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TMB 

SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY PAPERS 

IN TflE SPECTATOR 



JOSEPH ADDISON, RICHARD STEELE, 
EUSTACE BUDGELL 



EDITED, fFITH NOTES, OUTLINE STUDY AND 
EXAMINATION QUESTIONS 

BY 

MAUD ELMA KINGSLEY, A.B., A.M. 

AND 

FRANK HERBERT PALMER, A.B., A.M, 



BOSTON, U. S.A. 

THE PALMER COMPANY 

120 Boylston Street 

1910 



^i/ 



Copyright^ iqio 

BY 

The Palmer Company 



(g,G!.A259740 



CONTENTS 



Preface ..... 

Introduction 

The Essay as a Literary Composition 
Character, Source, and Scope of the Papers 
Influence of the " London Club " 
Mr. Spectator Introduces Himself 
Mr. Spectator Introduces Sir Roger 
\ Sir Roger ON Manners . 

CovERLEY Hall, Sir Roger's Views on 
Sermons ..... 
^ The Coverley Servants 

Sir Roger's Guests . ... 

Sir Roger's Ancestors . 
I Coverley Superstitions^ 

The Coverley Sabbath ( " . 
«v Views on The Folly of Men in Love 
Sir Roger's Economy 
The Coverley Hunt 
Sir Roger as a Huntsman 
t. Views on Witchcraft . 

Views on Confidantes and Coquetry 
^ The Coverley Code of Manners 
Sir Roger's Poultry 
Sir Roger's Ducks 
,SiR Roger and His Neighbors 



IV 



CONTENTS 



Florio and Leontilla: The Value of an 
Education ...... 

Party Spirit Deplored . . . . 

Sir Roger's Politics ..... 

Sir Roger and The Gypsies 

Mr. Spectator Leaves Coverley Hall 

Reflections on Town Versus Country 
Life ....... 

Debate With Sir Andrew Freeport 

Sir Roger's Admiration for Prince Eugene 

Reflections in Westminster Abbey '-^ 

Sir Roger and Beards . 

Sir Roger at The Play k / . 

Sir Roger and Will Honeycomb 

Sir Roger at Vauxhall 

Death of Sir Roger .v . 

Outline Study .... 

Examination Questions 



137 

134 
140 

146 
152 



163 

170 1^ 
176 ' 

194 
199 

204 f/ 

3 
17 



PREFACE 



It is the aim of the Kingsley English Texts to pre- 
sent the student with every necessary aid to the proper 
understanding of the books studied, without burdening 
him ^ »th superfluous matters. We believe that the 
Introduction that follows, together with the carefully 
prepared footnotes and the Suggestive Outline Study 
will give the reader a clear knowledge and a retentive 
memory of the famous papers vsrhich made the Spectator 
such a notable contribution to the literature of the 
eighteenth century. The examination questions at the 
close of the volume are of such a nature that the student 
to answer them must know a good deal about the whole 
subject. 

Special attention has been given to the typographical 
make-up of these texts. One of the greatest faults in 
the school texts of the day is found in the small type 
and close lines, which results in serious eye strain. 
This has been carefully guarded against in the present 
edition. Kingsley Texts of Julius Ccesar^ Macbeth^ 
Evangeline^ V^ision of Sir Launfal and Sir Roger 
de Coverley Papers are now available. Others are in 
preparation. 

The Editors. 

Boston, Mass., December 20, 1909. 



INTRODUCTION 



I. The Essay as a Literary Composition 

Note. The aim of the essayist is to instruct and influence 
readers who will give no hearing to the preacher or the pedant. 
His manner must be polite and insinuating, his touch delicate 
and even trifling; but his aim must be definite, and his home 
thrust firm and sure. 

The essay is intended, not so much to add to the reader's 
stock of knowledge of the subject chosen, as to classify and 
digest the information which he already possesses. The essay- 
ist must never allow his style to become controversial ; he is not 
required to conceal his own opinions beneath an affectation of 
judicial impartiality, but, as he expects his reader to approach 
the subject with an open mind, so he himself must maintain at 
least the appearance of perfect candor. This style of candid 
trifling is particularly adapted to the discussion of questions 
affecting personal manners and conduct, where established 
opinion and deeply rooted prejudices are involved. In such dis- 
cussion, the essayist disarms prejudice by graceful banter, and 
the reader is interested and convinced, when he only expected 
to be amused. In the i8th century, the periodical essay was 
regarded as the most satisfactory means of enlightening the 
English public on social and economic questions ; and, for this 
purpose, it took the place of the controversial pamphlet which 
was so prominent in the popular literature of the 17th century. 
The change from the always violent, and often scurrilous, 
pamphlet, to the light and graceful essay was indicative, not 
only of a great improvement in taste and manners in England, 
but of the growth of that spirit of tolerance and mutual for- 



viii INTRODUCTION 

bearance which marks the attainment of the last and most diffi- 
cult grade in the long process of educating a people for self- 
government. 

2. Character, Source, axd Scope of the Sir 
Roger de Coverlev Papers 

Suggestion.— study Outline Study, A. 

3. The Ixfluexce of the ''Loxdox Club" 

Note. To appreciate that portion of The Spectator known 
in literature as The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, it is 
necessary to study for a little the character and influence of the 
'* London Club," as it existed in the first half of the iSth 
century. 

The reign of Queen Anne begins the modern history of Eng- 
land. At this period, the old barriers, which, in the ages of 
feudalism, had limited the activities and interests of each class 
of society to one sphere, were everywhere breaking down ; a feel 
ing of community of interest in everything relating to the 
national welfare was becoming stronger among thinking men 
than old prejudices of caste or creed ; intelligent public opinion 
was beginning to assert itself in political and economic discus- 
sion. This newly awakened and sustained interest in broad 
questions of public policy was regarded in official circles as per- 
nicious ; the ministers of the crown, in political affairs, and the 
dignitaries of the Church, in inatters of education and morals, 
recognized no accountability to public opinion, and regarded 
public interest in such matters as evidence of a seditious spirit ; 
the newspapers, in the rudimentary form in which they then 
existed, were carefully debarred from all sources of accurate in- 
formation, and were harshly punished for circulating false- 
hoods ; the libel laws and the excessive respect regarded as due 
to rank and authority made it impossible to comment openly, 
in print, on the acts of public men. Thus, since news could 
circulate freely only by word of mouth, the collection and dis- 



INTRODUCTION ix 

semination of news became a fashionable pastime among men 
of letters. Public houses, particularly the coffee houses (newly 
devised places of resort for men of culture and refinement) , were 
thronged daily by well-informed men of leisure and by men 
representing the higher professional and business classes, — all 
eager to hear, and, incidentally, to discuss the news of the day. 
Men of the same tastes, constantly meeting in the same places 
of resort, naturally developed friendship from acquaintance, 
and began, gradually, to combine their resources in their favorite 
pursuit of news gathering. Following a custom long practiced 
for the purpose of jovial sociability among frequenters of tav- 
erns, a reserved room, a common fund for expenses, whatever 
useful books or periodicals were available, a simple organization 
and rules for regulation of debate and the admission of new 
members, made the accidental association of amateur politicians 
an organized club^ as the word was understood in the reign of 
Queen Anne. The Club proved so useful an institution, that 
its use became practically universal. . Every man, a resident or 
a regular visitor in London, who had means, leisure and a taste 
for the society of his kind, was a member of from one to a dozen 
clubs. There were Whig clubs and Tory clubs ; there were 
clubs devoted to general political discussion and clubs for the 
discussion of social problems ; while others were frankly 
devoted to inere gossip. There were clubs of actors, lawyers, 
merchants, etc. These were all voluntary associations based on 
similarity of habits among their members without regard to 
other considerations. Consequently, in many of the clubs, 
artificial social distinctions were entirely overlooked in making 
up the membership ; and club life became a powerful agency in 
weakening the force of such distinctions as affecting the ordi- 
nary intercourse of life among men. 

The Spectator Papers are presented as originating in the 
discussions of one of these clubs, and their point of view is 
indicated by the description in the first Paper of the character 
of the leader and moving spirit in the club, who feigns to con- 
ceal his identity under the pseudonym of " Mr. Spectator." 



THE SPECTATOR 
"Mr. Spectator" Introduces Himself 

(Addison, in Spectator ^ No. i, March i, 171 1) 

Introductory Note, This first paper of the series introduces 
Mr. Spectator, the narrator and philosopher of the Sir Roger 
DE CovERLEY PAPERS. He appears as a man of ample income 
derived from landed property, university trained, with a mind 
broadened by foreign travel, and intimately acquainted with 
public men and affairs. He is proud of his ancient lineage 
and his military ancestors, but he is liberal in his political views 
and frankly commercial in his ideas on economic subjects. It is 
not modesty nor taciturnity, but merely self-conscious shyness, 
which keeps him from the scramble and turmoil of public life. 
In a really serious emergency his talents would be devoted to 
the public service and would be found extremely useful. As 
thus sketched, the character of the " Spectator" is typical of a 
class to which the British nation owes much of its reputation 
for sagacity and energy in political and commercial affairs. 

' ' No )i fu in a in c x fii I go re, sed ex fu in o da re luce 111 
Cogitat, ut spectosa dehinc tniracula promaty ^ 

Horace, Ars Poetica, ver. 143. 

I HAVE observed, that a reader seldom peruses a book 
with pleasure till he knows whether the writer of it be a 
black^ or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, 

1. "He never tries to bring forth smoke from brilliant blaze, but 
from the smoke to give out light, that after that he may disclose to 
view things beautiful and strange." What bearinn^ lias tliis motto 
upon the subject-matter of the essay 1 

2. Of dark complexion. What meaning; ^vould the expression 
<<a black man" have for the American reader of to-day! 



2 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

married of a bachelor, with other particulars of the like 
nature, that conduce very much to the right understand- 
ing of an author. To gratify this curiosity, which is so 
natural to a reader, I design this paper, and my next, as 
prefatory discourses to my following writings, and shall 
give some account in them of the several persons that 
are engaged in this work. As the chief trouble of com- 
piling, digesting and correcting will fall to my share, I 
must do myself the justice to open the work with my 
own history. 

I was born to a small hereditary estate, ^ which, ac- 
cording to the tradition of the village where it lies, was 
bounded by the same hedges and ditches in William the 
Conqueror' s^ time that it is at present, and has been 
delivered down from father to son whole and entire, 
without the loss or acquisition of a single field or 
meadow, during the space of six hundred years. There 
runs a story in the family that shortly before my birth 
my mother dreamt that her child would be a judge. 
Whether this might proceed from a lawsuit which was 
then depending in the family, or my father's being a 
justice of the peace, ^ I cannot determine; for I am not 
so vain as to think it presaged any dignity that I should 

3. LaDd which the holder was bound by the terms of his title to 
transmit at his decease to an heir-at-law. 

4. Identify and give dates. 

5. A country gentleman commissioned to act as a magistrate in 
apprehending criminals and in punishing minor offences against the 
laws. It was considered a high honor to be included in the ** commis- 
sion of the peace," as it was the intention of the government to 
appoint none to this office except men of high standing. What does 
the term signify in the United States! 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 3 

arrive at in my future life, though that was the inter- 
pretation which the neighborhood put upon it. The 
gravity of my behavior at my very first appearance in 
the world seemed to favor my mother's dream : for, as 
she has often told me, I threw away my rattle before I 
was two months old, and would not make use of my 
coral till they had taken away the bells from it. 

As for the rest of my infancy, there being nothing in 
it remarkable, I shall pass it over in silence. I find 
that, during my nonage, I had the reputation of a very 
sullen youth, but was always a favorite of my school- 
master, who used to say, that my parts^ were solid, and 
would wear well. I had not been long at the university,^ 
before I distinguished myself by a most profound silence : 
for, during the space of eight years, excepting in the 
public exercises of the college, I scarce uttered the quan- 
tity of a hundred words ; and indeed do not remember 
that I ever spoke three sentences together in my whole 
life. Whilst I was in this learned body, I applied myself 
with so much diligence to my studies,^ that there are 
very few celebrated books, either in the learned^ or the 
modern tongues, which I am not acquainted with. 

Upon the death of my father I was resolved to travel 

6. Mental ability. This word is frequently used by Addison, and 
always with the same meaning. 

7. Either Oxford or Cambridge. 

8. Note that '* education " in tl^e 18th century meant acquaintance 
with the wisdom of antiquity. The modern world was supposed to be 
inferior to ancient times in all points of civilization. 

9. The Greek, Latin, and Hebrew languages. 

SugfgcBtlon.— Study the words coral, nonage, the quantity of, 
depending. 



4 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

into foreign countries, and therefore left the university, 
with the character of an odd unaccountable fellow, that 
had a great deal of learning, if I would but show it. An 
insatiable thirst after knowledge carried me into all the 1 
countries of Europe, in which there was anything new 
or strange to be seen; nay, to such a degree was my 
curiosity raised, that having read the controversies of 
some great men concerning the antiquities of Egypt, I 
made a voyage to Grand Cairo, ^^ q^ purpose to take the 
measure of a pyramid ; and, as soon as I had set myself 
right in that particular, returned to my native country 
with great satisfaction. 

I have passed my latter years in this city,^^ where I 
am frequently seen in most public places, though there 
are not above half a dozen of my select friends that 
know me ; of whom my next paper shall give a more 
particular account. There is no place of general resort^^ 
wherein I do not often make my appearance ; sometimes 
I am seen thrusting my head into a round of politicians 
at Will's, and Hstening with great attention to the narra- 
tives' that are made in those little circular audiences. 



10. In the 18th century, travel was a very expensive luxury, and, 
outside the beaten tracks in the most civilized countries of Europe, 
was attended with great difficulty and danger. The interior of Egypt 
was seldohi visited by the ordinary traveler. 

11. London. 

12. i. e. Coffee houses. Study Outline Study, Note 3. The most 
famous of these coffee houses are enumerated here: Will's Coffee 
House in Russell Street, near the Drury Lane Theatre, was patronized 
by men prominent m Court, political, and literary circles; Child's was 
frequented especially by physicians and clergymen ; the Grecian was 
a lawyer's resort; the St. James was a headquarters for Whig politi- 
cians; and the Cocoa Tree was a headquarters for Tories. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 5 

Sometimes I smoke a pipe at Child's ; and, while I seem 
attentive to nothing but the " postman, "i^ overhear the 
conversation of every table in the room. I appear on 
Sunday nights at St. James's Coffee House, and some- 
times join the little committee of politics^"^ in the inner 
room, as one w^ho comes there to hear and improve. 
My face is likew^ise very well known at the Grecian, 
the Cocoa Tree, and in the theatres both of Drury Lane 
and the Haymarket.^^ I have been taken for a merchant 
upon the Exchangei^ for above these ten years, and 
sometimes pass for a Jew in the assembly of stock- 
jobbers^^ at Jonathan's. ^^ In short, wherever I see a 
cluster of people, I always mix with them, though 1 
never open my lips but in my own club. 

Thus I live in the world, rather as a spectator of man- 
kind, than as one of the species ; by which means I 
have made myself a speculative statesman, soldier, mer- 
chant, and artisan, without ever meddling with any prac- 
tical part in life. I am very well versed in the theory 
of a husband or a father, and can discern the errors in 



13. One of the very few newspapers, in the modern sense of the 
word, existing at the time. 

14. At the St. James's Coffee House this would be a group of advanced 
radicals, whose opinions could not he safely aired in the public room. 

15. The theatres most patronized by the fashionable society of the 
time. The former is still one of the leading theatres of London. 

16. A large hall, designed as the meeting place for merchants, on 
the same site as the present Royal Exchange. 

17. Men who speculated in the rise and fall of the value of shares 
in mercantile ventures. This business was followed by the less sub- 
stantial class of merchants, which included most of the Jews in 
London at this period. 

18. A coffee house in Change Alley, frequented by stockjobbers. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



\ 



the economy, business, and diversion of others, better 
than those who are engaged in them ; as standers-by 
discover blots, which are apt to escape those who are in 
the game. I never espoused any party with violence, 
and am resolved to observe an exact neutrality between 
the Whigs and Tories,^ ^ unless I shall be forced to 
declare myself by the hostilities of either side. In short, 
I have acted in all the parts of my life as a looker-on, 
which is the character I intend to preserve in this paper. 
I have given the reader just so much of my history 
and character, as to let him see I am not altogether 
unqualified for the business I have undertaken. As for 
other particulars in my life and adventures, I shall insert 
them in following papers, as I shall see occasion. In 
the mean time, when I consider how^ much I have seen, 
read, and heard, I begin to blame my own taciturnity ; 
and since I have neither time nor inclination to commu- 
nicate the fullness of my heart in speech, I am resolved 
to do it in writing ; and to print myself out, if possible, 
before I die. I have been often told by my friends that 
it is a pity so many useful discoveries which I have made, 
should be in the possession of a silent man. For this 
reason therefore, I shall publish a sheet full of thoughts 
every morning, for the benefit of my contemporaries ; 
and if I can any way contribute to the diversion or im- 
provement of the country in which I live, I shall leave 



19. Party names for wliicli the terms Liberal and Conservative 
were, in later times, substituted. Generally speaking, the Whigs 
sought to limit the power of the crown, while the Tories sought to 
extend it. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 7 

it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret satis- 
faction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.2<> 

There are three very material points w^hich I have not 
spoken to in this paper, and which, for several important 
reasons, I must keep to myself, at least for some time : 
I mean, an account of my name, my age, and my lodg- 
ings. I must confess that I would gratify my reader in 
anything that is reasonable ; but as for these three par- 
ticulars, though I am sensible they might tend very much 
to the embellishment of my paper, I cannot yet come to 
a resolution of communicating them to the public. They 
would indeed draw me out of that obscurity which I 
have enjoyed for many years, and expose me in public 
places to several salutes and civilities, which have been 
always very disagreeable to me ; for the greatest pain I 
can suffer, is the being talked to, and being stared at. 
It is for this reason, likewise, that I keep my complexion 
and dress, as very great secrets ; though it is not impos- 
sible, but I may make discoveries of both in the progress 
of the work I have undertaken. ^i 

After having been thus particular upon myself, I shall 
in to-morrow's paper give an account of those gentlemen 
who are concerned with me in this work. For, as I 
have before intimated, a plan of it is laid and concerted 
(as all other matters of importance are) in a club. 
However, as my friends have engaged me to stand in 
the front, those who have a mind to correspond with 

20. Quote the lines from tliis paragrapH ^which state tlie pur- 
pose of the << l^pectator Papers." 

21. Point out an unfamiliar idiom in this paragraph. 



J 



8 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

me, may direct their letters to tiie '' Spectator," at 
Buckley's, ^2 in Little Britain. ^3 For I must further ac 
quaint the reader, that though our Club meets only o 
Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have appointed a commit- 
tee to sit every night, for the inspection of all such 
papers as may contribute to the advancement of the 
public weal. C. 



22. The original issue of the Spectator Papers as a bound volume 
bears the imprint ot *• S. Buckley, at the Dolphin in Little Britain." 

23. A street in London largely devoted to the printing and publish- 
ing trades. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 9 

II 
THE SPECTATOR CLUB 

''Mr. Spectator" Introduces Sir Roger 
TO THE Reader 

(Steele, in Spectator^ No. 2, March 2, 1711) 
Introductory Note, Of the club members, by far the most 
important is Sir Roger de Coverlej, a very wealthy land- 
owner in Worcestershire. Sir Roger's acres are so extensive 
that he usually lives a secluded life in the midst of them. His 
tenants and servants are so numerous that they form a consid- 
erable community, which looks to Sir Roger as its judge and 
ruler in all the little affairs of rural life. Sir Roger is upright, 
conscientious and patriotic. He inherits the chivalrous spirit 
of his knightly ancestors without their arrogance and turbu- 
lence ; but his manner of living, while it has, perhaps, unduly 
broadened his sympathies, has protected him from that rough 
contact with the world which would have freed his mind from 
inherited prejudice and the results of a defective education. 
The charm of the worthy baronet's character lies in his unfail- 
ing courtesy, universal charity, and the sound good sense 
which prompts him to seek the society of men whose point of 
view is radically different from his own. 

Another prominent member of. the club is Sir Andrew Free- 
port, a wealthy merchant of the city of London. We are not 
made so intimately acquainted with him as with Sir Roger, and 
he appears in the Papers merely as one who represents the opin- 
ions of the mercantile and capitalist interest, which, in England, 
had always maintained a practical equality with the landed 
interest. 

Other members of the club are as follows : a lawyer, who 
being relieved by fortune from the necessity of making his 
living at the bar, devotes his time to the study of literature and 
the drama; Will Honeycomb, a fashionable man about town; 



10 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

Captain Sentry, Sir Roger's heir-at-law, a professional soldier, 
retired from active service, modest and unassuming, as is fitting 
in a member of a profession generally unpopular in England; 
a clergyman, distinguished for his learning and piety, but not 
employed in the official activities of the Church. 

Suggestion. — Studj^ Outline Study, ]Vote 6. 

^''As^t alii sex 
Et f lures 11710 co7iclamaiit ore.""^ 

Juvenal, Sat. vii. 167. 

The first of our society is a gentleman of Worcester- 
shire, '^ of ancient descent, a baronet, ^ his name Sir Roger 
de Coverley. His great-grandfather was inventor of 
that famous country-dance^ which is called after him. 
All who know that shire are very well acquainted with 
the parts and merits of Sir Roger. He is a gentleman 
that is very singular in his behavior, but his singular- 
ities'' proceed from his good sense, and are contradic- 
tions to the manners of the world, only as he thinks the 
world is in the wrong. However, this humor creates 
him no enemies, for he does nothing with sourness or 
obstinacy ; and his being unconfined to modes and forms, 
makes him but the readier and more capable to please 
and oblige all ^vho kno\v him. When he is in town he 



1. *'But six or more are all talking at once." State the applica 
tioii of this title verse. 

2. How is tills word pronouiicedl 

3. The lowest rank of hereditary nobility in England. Baronet; 
are not peers, and, consequently, are eligible to the House of Coni-i 
nions. They are regarded as kniglits, and, like other knights, are 
entitled to the honorary prefix " Sir " before their names. 

4. Practically the same as our " contra-dance." The tune of "Sir 
Roger de Coverley " or '• Calverley " was used, in this dance at least 
century before these papers were written. 

5. What word would an American Avriter use instead of this 



\ 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 11 

lives in Soho Square :^ it is said, he keeps himself a 
bachelor by reason"^ he was crossed in love by a per- 
verse beautiful v^idow^ of the next county to him. Be- 
fore this disappointment, Sir Roger w^as what you call 
a fine gentleman, had often supped with my Lord 
Rochester^ and Sir George Etherege,^ fought a duel 
upon his first coming to town, and kicked Bully Daw- 
son^^ in a public coffee-house for calling him young- 
ster.^^ But being ill used by the above-mentioned 
widow, he w^as very serious for a year and a half; 
and though his temper being naturally jovial, he at last 
got over it, he grew careless of himself and never 
dressed^^ afterwards ; he continues to wear a coat and 
doublet of the same cut that were in fashion at the 
time of his repulse, which, in his merry humors, he 
tells us, has been in and out^^ twelve times since he 
first wore it. He is now in his fifty-sixth year, cheer- 
ful, gay, and hearty, keeps a good house in both town 
and country ; a great lover of mankind ; but there is 
such a mirthful caste in his behavior, that he is /at/icr 
beloved than esteemed. ^^ His tenants grow rich, his 

6. A small square, opening off Oxford Street. A fashionable resi- 
dence section in Queen Anne's reign. 

7. By reason. What one word Avould you use instead? 

8. A noted poet and wit at the Court of Charles II. 

0. A dramatist and courtier in the reign of Charles II. 

10, A noted character in his day. lie frequented the society of 
gentlemen, but was known to be the leader of a gang of sharpers and 
cutthroats. \ 

11. Note the characteristics and accomplishments of tlie << line 
l^entleman " of the period. 

13. i. e. In the prevailing fashion. 
, 13. i. e. Of fashion. 

14. We would say " Even more loved than esteemed." 



12 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

servants look satisfied, all the young women profess 
love to him, and the young men are glad of his com- 
pany : when he comes into a house he calls the servants 
by their names, and talks all the way upstairs to a 
visit. 1^ I must not omit that Sir Roger is a justice of 
the quorum ; ^^ that he fills the chair^'^ at a quarter-ses- 
sion^^ with great abilities, ^^ and three months ago, gained 
universal applause by explaining a passage in the game- 
act. 20 

The gentleman next in esteem and authority among 
us, is another bachelor, w^ho is a member of the Inner 
Temple ;'2i a man of great probity, wit, and understand- 
ing ; but he has chosen his place of residence rather to 
obey the direction of an old humorsome^^ father, than 
in pursuit of his own inclinations. He was placed there 
to study the laws of the land, and is the most learned 

15. Talks . . . visit. Revrrite tliis sentence in your o^^ii %Tords. 

16. These were Justices of llie Peace of superior qualifications, one 
of whom (qnoriim) Avas obliged to be present at all trials and judi- 
cial inquests in his county. In ^vhat connection do Americans 
use the word ^' quorum " 1 

17. As presiding justice. 

18. A criminal court held by Justices of the Peace. 

19. Ho^v ivould you liave ^%vritten this phrase 1 

20. The law for the protection of the wild game. 

21. The lawyers of London have from time immemorial grouped 
themselves into societies or guilds, each of which regulates among its 
members such matters as courses of study, admission to the bar, and 
professional ethics. Each society has its residence or *• inn," a group 
of buildings where students and young practitioners live like stu- 
dents at a college. The society of the Inner Temple is so called be- 
cause its " inn " stands on ground once the property of the Knights 
Tenfplar. 

22. This word in the Spectator is applied to a person who indulges 
his own peculiar tastes and traits of character beyond the bounds of 
reason. 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 13 

of any of the house in those of the stage. Aristotle 
and Longinus^-^ are much better understood by him 
than Littleton or Cooke. ^^ The father sends up every 
post questions relating to marriage-articles, leases, and 
tenures, in the neighborhood ; all which questions he 
agrees with an attorney^^ to answer and take care of in 
the lump. He is studying the passions themselves, 
when he should be inquiring into the debates among 
men which arise from them. He know^s the argument 
of each of the orations of Demosthenes^^ and Tully,^'^ 
but not one case in the reports of our own courts. No 
one ever took him for a fool, but none, except his inti- 
mate friends, know he has a great deal of wit. This 
turn makes him at once both disinterested and agree- 
able : as few of his thoughts are drawn from business, ^^ 
they are most of them fit for conversation. His taste 
of books is a little too just^^ for the age he lives in ; he 
has read all, but approves of very few. His familiarity 
with the customs, manners, actions, and writings of the 
ancients, makes him a very delicate observer of what 
occurs to him in the present world. He is an excellent 
critic, and the time of the play is his hour of business ; 
exactly at five he passes through New Inn, crosses 

23. Ancient Greek pliilosoplieis. 

24. Famous authors of treatises on the laws of England. Para- 
phrase the gentence, substitiiling^ §^eiieral for specific terms. 

25. In England an attorney is not a lawyer but a legal contractor 
who employs lawyers. 

26. The most famous orator of Athens. 

27. Cicero, Rome's greatest orator. 

28. i. e. Derived from the consideration of the ordinary affairs of 
life. 

29. Strictly exact. 



14 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

through Russeh Court : and takes a turn at Will's till 
the play begins ; he has his shoes rubbed and his peri- 
wig30 powdered at the barber's as you go into the Rose.^^ 
It is for the good of the audience when he is at a play, 
for the actors have an ambition to please him. 

The person of next consideration is Sir Andrew Free- 
port, a merchant of great eminence in the city of Lon- 
don : a 23erson of indefatigable industry, strong reason, 
and great experience. His notions of trade are noble 
and generous, and (as every rich man has usually some 
sly way of jesting, which would make no great figure 
were he not a rich man) he calls the sea thfe British 
Common. 3'^ He is acquainted with commerce in all its 
parts, and will tell you that it is a stupid and barbarous 
way to extend dominion by arms : for true j^ower is to 
be got by arts and industry. He will often argue, that 
if this part of our trade were v^^ell cultivated, we should 
gain from one nation; and if another, from another. 
I have heard him prove that diligence makes more last- 
ing acquisitions than valor, and that sloth has ruined 
more nations than the sword. He abounds in several 
frugal maxims, amongst which the greatest favorite is, 
"A penny saved is a penny got." A general trader of 
good sense is pleasanter company than a general scholar ; 
and Sir Andrew having a natural unaffected eloquence, 
the perspicuity of his discourse gives the same pleasure 

30. At this ])eiiod a wig of false hair was an essential part of a gen- 
tleman's costume. 

31. An actors' tavern near Drury Lane Theatre. 

32. The village common was a pasture in which each villager might 
claim the right of grazing cattle. Follow out tlic comparison. 



SIR ROGER BE COVER LEY 15 

that wit would in another man. He has made his for- 
tunes himself ; and says that England may be richer 
than other kingdoms, by as plain methods as he himself 
is richer than other men ; though at the same time I 
can say this of him, that there is not a point in the 
compass, but blows home a ship in which he is an 
owner. 

Next to Sir Andrew in the club-room sits Captain 
Sentry, a gentleman of great courage, good understand- 
ing, but invincible modesty. ILe is one of those that 
deserve very well, but are very awkward at putting 
their talents within the observation of such as should 
take notice of them. He was some years a captain, ^^ 
and behaved himself with great gallantry in several 
engagements, and at several sieges ; but having a small 
estate of his own, and being next heir to Sir Roger, he 
has quitted a way of life in which no man can rise suit- 
ably to his merit, who is not something of a courtier, 
as well as a soldier. I have heard him often lament, 
that in a profession where nnerit is placed in so con- 
spicuous a view, impudence should get the better of 
modesty. When he has talked to this purpose, I never 
heard him make a sour expression, but frankly confess 
that he left the world, because he was not fit for it. A 
strict honesty and an even regular behavior, are in 
themselves obstacles to him that must press through 
crowds who endeavor at the same end with himself, the 
favor of a commander. He will, however, in this way 

33. In the regular arni3\ In ^-rlint war ^vns Kii^laiid engaged 
at this i)erioi1 i 



16 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

of talk, excuse generals, for not disposing according to 
men's desert, or inquiring into it : for, says he, that 
great man who has a mind to help me, has as many 
to break through to come at me, as I have to come 
at him : therefore he will conclude, that the man who 
Avould make a figure, especially in a military way, 
must get over all false modesty, and assist his patron 
against the importunity of other pretenders, by a proper 
assurance in his own vindication. He says it is a civil 
cowardice to be backward in asserting wliat you ought 
to expect, as it is a military fear to be slow in attacking 
when it is your duty. With this candor does the gen- 
tleman speak of himself and others. The same frank- 
ness runs through all his conversation. The military 
part of his life has furnished him with many adventures, 
in the relation of which he is very agreeable to the com- 
pany ; for he is never overbearing, though accustomed 
to command men in the utmost degree below^ him ; nor 
ever too obsequious, from a habit of obeying men highly 
above him.^"* 

But that our society may not appear a set of humor- 
ists^^ unacquainted with the gallantries and pleasures 
of the age, we have among us the gallant Will Honey- 
comb, a gentleman who, according to his years, should 
be in the decline of his life, but having ever been very 
careful of his person, and always had a very easy for- 
tune, time has made but very little impression, either 

34. Ke^vrite from memory tills paragraph describing Captain 
Sentry. 

35. See Footnote 22. WHat Tvould tliis sentence mean if found 
in an American essay 7 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 17 

by wrinkles on his forehead, or traces in his brain. 
His person is well turned, and of a good height. ^^ He 
is very ready at that sort of discourse with which men 
usually entertain women. He has all his life dressed 
very w^ell, and remembers habits^^ as others do men. 
He can smile when one speaks to him, and laughs 
easily. He knows the history of every mode, and can 
inform you from w^liich of the ladies of the French 
Court our wives and daughters had this manner of curl- 
ing their hair, that w^ay of placing their hoods ; whose 
vanity to show her foot made the petticoat so short in 
such a year. In a word, all his conversation and knowl- 
edge has been in the female world : as other men of his 
age will take notice to you what such a minister said upon 
such and such an occasion, he will tell }ou when the 
Duke of Monmonth^^ danced at court such a woman 
was then smitten, another was taken with him at the 
head oE his troop in the Park. In all these important 
relations, he has ever about the same time received a 
kind glance, or a blow of a fan, from some celebrated 
beauty, mother of the present Lord Such-a-one. If you 
speak of a young Commoner^^ that said a lively thing in 
the House, he starts up, '' He has good blood in his 
veins ; that young fellow's mother used me more like a 
dog than any woman I ever made advances to." This 
way of talking of his, very much enlivens the conversa- 
tion among us of a more sedate turn ; and I hnd there 

30. Ilewrite tliis sentence in modern £ns;lisii. 

87. Costumes. 

38. An illegitimate son of King Charles II. 

39. Member of the House of Commons. 



18 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

is not one of the company but myself, who rarely speak 
at all, but speaks of him as of that sort of man, who is 
usually called a well-bred fine gen Jen: an. To conclude 
his character, where \\^omen are not concerned, he is an 
honest w^orthy man. 

I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am 
next to speak of, as one of our company; for he visits 
us but seldom, but when he does, it adds to every man 
else a new enjoyment of himself. He is a clergyman, 
a very philosophic man, of general learning, great sanc- 
tity of life, and the most exact good breeding. He has 
the misfortune to be of a very weak constitution, and 
consequently cannot accept of such cares and business 
as preferments in his function would oblige him to : he 
is therefore among divines what a chamber-counselor^^ 
is among lawyers. The probity of his mind, and the 
integrity of his life, create him followers, as being elo- 
quent or loud advances others. He seldom introduces 
the subject he speaks upon ; but we are so far gone in 
years, that he observes when he is among us, an earnest- 
ness to have him fall on some divine topic, ^^ which he 
always treats with much authority, as one who has no 
interests in this world, as one who is hastening to the 
object of all his wishes, and conceives hope from his de- 
cays and infirmities. These are my ordinary companions. 

R. 

40. A lawyer who gives advice in liis office but never appears at 
court. 

41. Question of theology. 

8ugo;estioii. — Write a paper describing the appearance and mode 
of life of a "fine gentleman" of Queen Anne's day from the material 
furnished by Spectator Papers 1 and 2. 



SM ROGER DE COVERLEV 19 

III 

SIR ROGER DISCOURSES ON MANNERS 

(Steele, in Spectator^ No. 6, March 7, 171 1) 

Litroductory Note. Paper No. 6 is an Essay on Manners, and, 
as such, is as applicable to the time in which we live as to that 
in which Addison and Steele wrote. Sir Roger maintains that 
education and refinement, when these are merely superficial 
polish, and do not regulate and control the entire moral being 
of a man, are not only useless, but are often pernicious. 

'''' Cj'edehant hoc gra7ide 7iefas^ et morte piajidum^ 
Si juvenis vetulo ?i07i assii7'rexerat.^^^ 

Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 154. 

1 KNOW no evil under the sun so great as the abuse of 
the understanding, and yet there is no one vice more 
common. It has diffused itself through both sexes, 
and all qualities of mankind ; and there is hardly that 
person to be found, who is not more concerned for the 
reputation of wit and sense, than honesty and virtue. 
But this unhappy affectation of being wise rather than 
honest, witty than good-natured, is the source of most 
of the ill^ habits of life. Such false impressions are 
owing to the abandoned writings of men of wit, and the 
awkward imitation of the rest of mankind. 

For this reason. Sir Roger was saying last night, that 
he was of opinion that none but men of fine parts 

1. "They used to hold it as a heinous sin, that naught but death 
couLl expiate, if a young man had not risen up to paj'^ honor to an 
old one." 

2. What word would aii Ainericaii writer use liere 1 



20 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

deserve to be hanged. ^ The reflections of such men are 
so deUcate upon all occurrences which they are con- 
cerned in, that they should be exposed to more than 
ordinary infamy and punishment, for offending against 
such quick^ admonitions as their own souls give them, 
and blunting the fine edge of their minds in such a 
manner, that they are no more shocked at vice and folly, 
than men of slow^er capacities. There is no greater 
monster in being, than a very ill man of great parts : 
he lives like a man in a palsy, with one side of him 
dead. While perhaps he enjoys the satisfaction of 
luxury, of wealth, of ambition, he has lost the taste of 
good wall, of friendship, of innocence. Scarecrow, the 
beggar in Lincoln's Inn Fields,^ wdio disabled himself 
in his right leg, and asks alms all day to get himself a 
warm supper at night, is not half so despicable a wretch 
as such a man of sense. The beggar has no relish 
above sensations ; he finds rest more agreeable than 
motion ; and while he has a warm fire, never reflects 
that he deserves to be whipped. Every man who ter- 
minates his satisfaction and enjoyments within the supply 
of his own necessities and passions, is, says Sir Roger, 
in my eye as poor a rogue as Scarecrow. " But," con- 
tinued he, '' for the loss of public and private virtue w^e 
are beholden to your men of parts forsooth ; it is with 



3. Hanged, i. e., the common run of criminals are made so far irre- 
sponsible by brutish nature and lack of intelligence that fcociety 
should rather restrain them than avenge itself upon them. 

4. IV hat is tlie nieaiiin§f oftlie word 1 

5. An open square or small park much frequented by lawyers and 
persons having business in the Courts of Justice near by. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 21 

them no matter what is done, so it is done with an air. 
But to me who am so whimsical in a corrupt age as to 
act according to nature and reason, a selfish man in the 
most shining circumstance and equipage,^ appears in the 
same condition with the fellow above mentioned, but 
more contemptible in proportion to what more he robs 
the public of and enjoys above him. I lay it down 
therefore for a rule, that the whole man is to move 
together ; that every action of any importance is to have 
a prospect of public good ; and that the general ten- 
dency of our indifferent actions ought to be agreeable to 
the dictates of reason, of religion, of good breeding; 
without this, a man, as I have before hinted, is hopping 
instead of walking, he is not in his entire and proper 
motion." 

While the honest knight was thus bewildering himself 
in good starts,^ I looked intentively^ upon him, which 
made him I thought collect his mind a little. ''What 
I aim at," says he, " is, to represent that I am of opinion, 
to polish our understandings and neglect our manners is 
of all things the most inexcusable. Reason should 
govern passion, but instead of that you see, it is often 
subservient to it ; and, as unaccountable as one would 
think it, a wise man is not always a good man." This 
degeneracy is not only the guilt of particular persons, 
but also at some times of a whole people ; and perhaps 
it may appear upon examination, that the most polite 

6. In the most . . . equipage. Express the tliought in your o^%th 
Tvords. 

7. Disconnected outbursts of eloquence. 

8. IVliat ivord ^vould an American use lieref 



22 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

ages are the least virtuous. This may be attributed to 
the folly of admitting wit and learning as merit in them- 
selves, without considering the application of them. By 
this means it becomes a rule not so much to reg^ard what 
we do, as how we do it. But this false beauty will not 
pass upon men of honest minds and true taste. Sir 
Richard Blackmore^ says, with as much good sense as 
virtue, "It is a mighty dishonor and shame to employ 
excellent faculties and abundance of w^it, to humor and 
please men in their vices and follies. The great enemy 
of mankind, 1^ notwithstanding his wit and angelic facul- 
ties, is the most odious being in the whole creation." 
He goes on soon after to say very generously, that he 
undertook the writing of his poem "to rescue the Muses^^ 
out of the hands of ravishers, to restore them to their 
sweet and chaste mansions, and to engage them in an 
employment suitable to their dignity. "^'^ This cer- 
tainly ought to be the purpose of every man who 
appears in public ; and whoever does not proceed upon 
that foundation, injures his country as fast as he suc- 
ceeds in his studies. When modesty ceases to be the 
chief ornament of one sex, and integrity of the other, 
society is upon a wrong basis, and we shall be ever after 
without rules to guide our judgement in what is really 
becoming and ornamental. Nature and reason direct 

9. A famous pliysician, essayist, and poet of the day. The quota- 
tion is from the preface to an epic poem entitled *• King Arthur." 

10. To Avhoin is tlie reference \ 

11. In Greek mythology, goddesses presiding over literature and 
the kindred arts of civilization. 

12. i. e. He wished to write a poem which should have a suitable 
and dignified theme. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 23 

one thing, passion and humor another : to follow the 
dictates of the two latter, is going into a road that is 
both endless and intricate ; when we pursue the other, 
our passage is delightful, and \vhat we aim at easily 
attainable.!^ 

I do not doubt but England is at present as polite a 
nation as any in the world ; but any man who thinks 
can easily see, that the affectation of being gay and in 
fashion has very near eaten up our good sense and our 
religion. Is there anything so just, as that mode and 
gallantryi'* should be built upon exerting ourselves in 
what is proper and agreeable to the institutions of jus- 
tice and piety among us? And yet is there anything 
more common, than that we run in perfect contradiction 
to them ? All which is supported by no other preten- 
sion, than that it is done with what we call a good 
grace. 1^ 

Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming, but 
what nature itself should prompt us to think so. 
Respect to all kinds of superiors is founded methinks 
upon instinct; and yet what is so ridiculous^^ as age? 
I make this abrupt transition to the mention of this vice 
more than any other, in order to introduce a little stor}^, 
which 1 think a pretty instance that the most polite age 
is in danger of being the most vicious. 

13. Snumerate the three heads of the little << sermon" con^ 
tatned in this parag.raph. 

14. i. e. The standard of fashion and good breeding. 

15. Frankly. Neither intending evil nor fearing censure. 

16. Steele means, *• What is so often made a subject of ridicule? " 
What 'would this sentence mean if found in an American essay S 



24 • SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

" It happened at Athens, ^^ during a public representa- 
tion of some play exhibited in honor of the common- 
wealth that an old gentleman came too late for a place 
suitable to his age and quality. Many of the young 
gentlemen who observed the difficulty and confusion he 
was in, made signs to him that they would accommo- 
date him if he came where they sat : the good man 
bustled through the crowd accordingly ; but when he 
came to the seats to which he was invited, the jest was 
to sit close, and expose him, as he stood out of counte- 
nance, to the whole audience. The frolic went round 
all the Athenian benches. But on those occasions there 
were also particular places assigned for foreigners : 
when the good man skulked towards the boxes appointed 
for the Lacedaemonians, that honest people, more virtu- 
ous than polite, rose up all to a man, and with the 
greatest respect received him among them. The Athe- 
nians being suddenly touched w4th a sense of the Spartan 
virtue, and their own degeneracy, gave a thunder of 
applause; and the old man cried out, 'The Athenians 
understand what is good, but the Laceda&monians prac- 
tice it.' " R. 

17. Athens and Lacedsemon (Sparta) were rival states of ancient 
Greece. The Athenians, by cultivating to the utmost every refining 
and educational influence, made their city the most highly civilized 
community that has ever existed; the Lacedaemonians, by devoting 
themselves exclusively to the development of those qualities which 
tend to make good soldiers, liacame a nation of military athletes. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 25 



IV 
COVERLEY HALL 

Sir Roger's Views on Clergymen's Sermons 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. io6, July 2, i^ii) 

Introductory Note, To the audience for which the Spectator 
papers were written, the point of this essay lay in the good- 
natured criticism of the laboriously composed sermons as 
common then, as now; but to the reader of to-day, the charm 
of the paper lies in the picture which it gives of an ideal English 
rural household in the eighteenth century. 

At this period, the English nobleman or country gentleman 
was much more than a mere wealthy landlord. The old feudal 
idea that the soil of the kingdom was granted in trust by the 
king to his knights, to be administered by them in such a way 
as should be conducive to the defense and peace of the realm, 
was still the foundation principle of society. The fact that 
commercial relations had been everywhere substituted for the 
feudal relations, had not yet relieved the landlord from a certain 
degree of responsibility for the welfare and conduct of the 
peasants who tilled his lands. And the peasant farmer was 
bound by social custom to observe towards his landlord much 
the same attitude of obedience and respect which had been ex- 
acted from his ancestors by their feudal masters. The tenants 
on each estate formed a distinct village, the center of which was 
the hall, the residence of the proprietor and of a small army of 
male and female dependants and servants of all ranks. The 
landlord's commission as justice of the peace was believed by 
the villagers to invest him with most of the practical powers of 
government, and the larger proprietors were able to direct the 
influence of the Church through the right which they claimed 
of nominating to vacant pulpits. The personal character of the 



26 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

landlord was, consequently, a matter of vital importance to the 
rural community which was compelled to look to him for 
leadership and guidance. 

' ' Hmc tih I cop ia 
Ma7iabit ad ple7iiim^ hejiigiio 
Riiris ho7iorum opiile^ita cor?iti.''' ^ 

Horace, Lib. I., Ode xvii. 14. 

Having often received an invitation from my friend 
Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him 
in the country, I last week accompanied him thither, 
and am settled with him for some time at his country 
house, where I intend to form se^'eral of my ensuing 
speculations. Sir Roger, who is very well acquainted 
with my humor, ^ lets me rise and go to bed when I 
please, dine at his own table or in my chamber as I 
think fit, sit still and say nothing without bidding me 
be merry. When the gentlemen of the country come to 
see him, he only shows me at a distance : as I have been 
walking in his fields I have observed them stealing a 
sio^ht of me over a hedofe, and have heard the knisfht 
desiring them not to let me see them, for that 1 hated to 
be stared at. 

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family, because 
it consists of sober and staid persons ; for as the knight 
is the best master in the world, he seldom changes his 
servants; and as he is beloved by all about him, his 
servants never care for leaving him ; by this means 
his domestics are all in years, and grown old with their 

1. " Here Plenty, rich in aU the bounties of tlie field, shall stream 
for you from Fortune's teemiug born." 

2. Disposition. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 27 

master. You would take his valet cle cliambre for his 
brother, his butler is gray-headed, his groom is one of 
the gravest men that I have ever seen, and his coach- 
man has the looks of a privy counselor. You see the 
goodness of the master even in the old house-dog, and 
in a gray pad that is kept in the stable w^ith great care 
and tenderness out of regard to his past services, though 
he has been useless for several years. ^ 

I could not but observe w^ith a great deal of pleasure 
the joy that appeared in the countenances of these 
ancient domestics upon my friend's arrival at his coun- 
try seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at 
the sight of their old master ; every one of them pressed 
forward to do something for him, and seemed discour- 
aged^ if they were not employed. At the same time the 
good old knight, with a mixture of the father and the 
master of the family, tempered the inquiries after his 
own affairs with several kind questions relating to them- 
selves. This humanity and good nature engages^ every- 
body to him, so that when he is pleascint upon^ any of 
them, all his family are in good humor, and none so 
much as the person whom he diverts himself with : 
on the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any infirmity 
of old age, it is easy for a stander-by to observe a secret 
concern in the looks of all his servants. 

My worthy friend has put me under the particular 

3. What traits of Sir Roger's character does this paragraph reveal? 

4. Disheartened. Study the derivation of this Avord and com- 
pare tilts stiade of meaning wltii ttiat in common use. 

5 Can the singular number be justified liere? 

6. Inclined to joke. 



28 S//^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

care of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as 
well as the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desir- 
ous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their 
master talk of me as of his particular friend. 

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting 
himself in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable 
man who is ever with Sir Roger, and has lived at his 
house in the nature of a chaplain'' above thirty years. 
This gentleman is a person of good sense and some learn- 
ing, of a very regular life and obliging conversation :^ 
he heartily loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very 
much in the old knight's esteem, so that he lives in the 
family rather as a relation than a dependant. 

I have observed in several of my papers, that my 
friend Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is some- 
thing of a humorist ;^ and that his virtues, as well as 
imperfections, are as it were tinged by a certain extrava- 
gance, which makes them particularly his, and distin- 
guishes them from those of other men. This cast of 
mind, as it is generally very innocent in itself, so it 
renders his conversation highly agreeable, and more 
delightful than the same degree of sense and virtue 
would appear in their common and ordinary colors. 
As I w^as walking with him last night, he asked me 
how I liked the good man w4iom I have just now men- 

7. A clergyman maintained for the exclusive benefit of one house- 
hold. 

8. Kxplain tlie expression << obliging conTersatioii." Do we 
use the adjective iu tills connection? 

9. explain and compare this use VFlth the modern use of the 
word. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 29 

tioned? and without staying for my answer told me, that 
he was afraid of being insuhed^^ with Latin and Greek 
at his own table ; for which reason he desired a particu- 
lar friend of his at the university to find him out a clergy- 
man rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good 
aspect, a clear voice, a sociable temper, and, if possible, 
a man that understood a little of backgammon. "My 
friend," says Sir Roger, ''found me out this gentleman, 
who, besides the endowments required of him, is, they 
tell me, a good scholar, though he does not show it. I 
have given him the parsonage^^ of the parish; and 
because I know his value have settled upon him a good 
annuity for life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he 
was higher in my esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. 
He has now been with me thirty years ; and though he 
does not know I have taken notice of it, has never in all 
that time asked anything of me for himself, though he 
is every day soliciting me for something in behalf of one 
or other of my tenants his parishioners. There has not 
been a lawsuit in the parish since he has lived among 
them : if any dispute arises they apply themselves to 
him for the decision ; if they do not acquiesce in his 
judgment, which I think never happened above once or 
twice at most, they appeal to me. At his first settling 
with me, I made him a present of all the good sermons 

10. i. e. By a display of superior learning from a social inferior. 

11. The position of parson, including a property right to the taxes 
paid by the villagers for the support of the Church. These taxes 
without Sir Roger's bounty would not have afforded a sufficient in- 
come to support a minister suitably. What would th© sentence 
mean if written by an American 7 



30 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

which have been printed in EngHsh, and only begged of 
him that every Sunday he w^ould pronounce one of them 
in the pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested^^ them into 
such a series, that they follow one another naturally, and 
make a continued system of practical divinity." 

As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentle- 
man we were talking of came up to us ; and upon the 
knight's asking him who preached to-morrow (for it 
was Saturday night) told us, the Bishop of St. Asaph^^ 
in the morning, and Dr. South^^ in the afternoon. He 
then showed us his list of preachers for the whole year, 
where I saw with a great deal of pleasure Archbishop 
Tiilotson, Bishop Saunderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, 
with several living authors \vho have published dis- 
courses of practical divinity. I no sooner saw this 
venerable man in the pulpit, but 1 very much approved 
of my friend's insisting upon the qualifications of a good 
aspect and a clear voice ; for I was so charmed with the 
gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as well as with 
the discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed 
any time more to my satisfaction. A sermon repeated 
after this manner, is like the composition of a poet in 
the mouth of a graceful actor. 

I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy 
would follow this example ; and instead of wasting their 
spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would 

12. Arranged methodically. 

13. William Fleetwood, called the " Silver-tongued," a famous pul- 
pit orator of the day. 

14. Dr. South was better known as a controversialist. The others 
were famous preachers and authors of theological ^vorks. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 31 

endeavor after a handsome elocution, and all those other 
talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned 
by greater masters. This would not only be more easy 
to themselves, but more edifying to the people. ^^ 

L. 

15. Do you think this is meant to he taken seriously 1 ^Vhat 
practical difficulties can you perceive in the way of the adop- 
tion of such a plan 1 

Suggestion.— Write a bketcli of Sir Roger's ideal clergyman. 
Study the literary merits of this essay: tlie diction, the manner in 
which the sentences are balanced, the effective combination of short 
and long sentences, etc. 



32 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

V 

THE COVERLEY SERVANTS 

''A Gentle Admonition to Thankless Masters" 

(Steele, in Spectaior^^o. 107, July 3, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. .This essay is a continuation of paper 
No. 106. 

'■^^^sopo i7ige7ite7n statuam posuere Attici\ 
Servumque collocarunt cEterna in bast, 
Patere honoris scire?it ut cu7icti viam,''^ ^ 

Ph.edrus, Ep. i. 2. 

The reception, manner of attendance, undisturbed 
f ree<lom and quiet, which I meet with here in the country, 
has confirmed me in the opinion I always had, that the 
general corruption of manners in servants is owing to 
the conduct of masters.^ The aspect of every one in the 
family carries so much satisfaction, that it appears he 
knows the happy lot which has befallen him in being a 
member of it. There is one particular which I have 
seldom seen but at Sir Roger's ; it is usual in all other 
places, that servants fly from the parts of the house 
through which their master is passing ; on the contrary, 
here they industriously place themselves in his way ; and 
it is on both sides, as it were, understood as a visit, when 
the servants appear without calling. This proceeds 

1. "The Athenians erected a large statue to ^sop, and placed him, 
though a slave, on a 1 asting pedestal, that all might know that the way 
to honor lies open." 

2. The general . . . masters. This is the central thought of the 
essay. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 33 

from the humane and equal temper of the man of the 
house, who also perfectly well knows how to enjoy a 
great estate, with such economy as ever to be much 
beforehand.'*^ This makes his own mind untroubled, and 
consequently unapt to vent peevish expressions, or give 
passionate or inconsistent orders to those about him. 
Thus respect and love go together ; and a certain cheer- 
fulness in performance of their duty is the particular 
distinction of the lower part of this family. When a 
servant is called before his master, he does not come 
with an expectation to hear himself rated for some 
trivial fault, threatened to be stripped,^ or used with any 
other unbecoming language, which mean masters often 
give to worthy servants ; but it is often to know, what 
road he took that he came so readily back according to 
order ; whether he passed by such a ground, if the old 
man who rents it is in good health : or whether he gave 
Sir Roger's love to him, or the like. 

A man who preserves a respect, founded on his benev- 
olence to his dependants, lives rather like a prince than 
a master in his family ; his orders are received as favors, 
rather than duties ; and the distinction of approaching 
him is part of the reward for executing what is com- 
manded by him. 

There is another circumstance in which my friend 
excels in his management, which is the manner of re- 

3. Give the meaning of the ^vord. This sentence anil the one 
before it are excellent examples of the peculiarities of eighteenth 
century diction. Rewrite the two sentences using modern words 
and idioms. Study particularly the word << economy." 

4. Discharged. 



34 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

warding his servants : he has ever been of opinion, that 
giving his cast clothes to be worn by valets has a very 
ill effect upon little minds, and creates a silly sense of 
equality between the parties, in persons affected only with 
outward things. I have heard him often pleasant^ on 
this occasion, and describe a young gentleman abusing 
his man in that coat, which a month or two before was 
the most pleasing distinction he was conscious of in him- 
self. He would turn his discourse still more pleasantly 
upon the ladies' bounties of this kind ; and I have heard 
him say he knew a fine woman, w^ho distributed rewards 
and punishments in giving becoming or unbecoming 
dresses to her maids. 

But my good friend is above these little instances of 
good will, in bestowing only trifles on his servants ; a 
good servant to him is sure of having it in his choice 
very soon of being no servant at all. As I before 
observed, he is so good a husband,^ and knows so thor- 
oughly that the skill of the purse is the cardinal virtue 
of this life ; I say, he knows so well that frugality is the 
support of generosity, that he can often spare a large 
fine when a tenement falls,''' and give that settlement to- 
a good servant who has a mind to go into the world, ^ or 
make a stranger pay the fine to that servant, for his 

5. Wliat \<, the meaning of tills -wordl 

6 One who is frugal and thrifty. Wliat ^vonltl tliis sentence 
mean if found in an American essay 1 

7. A bonus paid to the landlord hy the new tenant at the expiration 
orlransfer of a lease. This fine is practically purchase money and 
has the effect of keeping men of small means from becoming tenant 
farmers. 

8. i. e. Into business for himself. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 35 

more comfortable maintenance, if he stays in his 
service.^ 

A man of honor and generosity considers, it would be 
miserable to himself to have no will but that of another, 
though it were of the best person breathing, and for that 
reason goes on as fast as he is able to put his servants 
into independent livelihoods. The greatest part of Sir 
Roger's estate is tenanted by persons who have served 
himself or his ancestors. It was to me extremely 
pleasant to observe the visitants from several parts to 
welcome his arrival into the country : and all the dif- 
ference that I could take notice of between the late 
servants who came to see him, and those who staid in 
the family, w^as that these latter were looked upon as 
finer gentleraen^^ and better courtiers. ^^ 

This manumission^^ and placing them in a way of 
livelihood, I look upon as only what is due to a good 
servant, which encouragement will make his successor 
be as diligent, as humble, and as ready as he was. 
There is something wonderful in the narrowness of those 
minds, which can be pleased, and be barren of bounty 
to those who please them. 

One might, on this occasion, recount the sense that 

9. Digcuss line literary merits of tliis parag^rapli and cleicribe 
the means nsed to make the iiaragraph emphatic. 

10. Whereas, under ordinary circumstances, Uie tenant farmer 
would have regarded himself as much superior to the house servant. 

11. Substitute an American word and idiom In this sentence 
for a M^ord and idiom unfamiliar to you. 

12. Tliis word means more tlian the mere release from the obliga- 
tions of servitude; it implies that the person manumitted is put in a 
position to assume the obligations of citizenship. 



36 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

great persons in all ages have had of the merit of their 
dependants, and the heroic services w^hich men have 
done their masters in the extremity of their fortunes ; 
and show^n to their undone patrons, that fortune was all 
the difference betvs^een them ; but as I design this my 
speculation only as a gentle admonition to thankless 
masters, I shall not go out of the occurrences of common 
life, but assert it as a general observation, that I never 
savs^, but in Sir Roger's family, and one or two more, 
good servants treated as they ought to be. Sir Roger's 
kindness extends to their children's children, and this 
very morning he sent his coachman's grandson to pren- 
tice. ^^ I shall conclude this paper w^ith an account of 
a picture in his gallery, where there are many which 
will deserve my future observation. 

At the very upper end of this handsome structure I 
saw the portraiture^^ of two young men standing in a 
river, the one naked, the other in a livery. The person 
supported seemed half dead, but still so much alive as 
to show in his face exquisite joy and love towards the 
other. I thought the fainting figure resembled my friend 
Sir Roger ; and looking at the butler, w ho stood by me, 
for an account of it, he informed me that the person in 
the livery was a servant of Sir Roger's, w4io stood on 
the shore while his master was swimming, and observing 
him taken with some sudden illness, and sink under 
water, jumped in and saved him. He told me Sir Roger 

13. To learn a trade. 

14. What must this \rord have meant in Addis«n*8 day I 
TVhat does it mean in America. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 37 

took off the dress he was in as soon as he came home, 
and by a great bounty at that time, followed by his favor 
ever since, had made him master of that pretty seat^^ 
which we saw at a distance as we came to this house. 
I remembered indeed Sir Roger said there lived a very 
worthy gentleman, to whom he was highly obliged, ^^ 
without mentioning anything further. Upon my looking 
a little dissatisfied at some part of the picture my 
attendant informed me that it was against Sir Roger's 
will, and at the earnest request of the gentleman himself, 
that he was drawn in the habit in which he had saved 
his master. R. 



16. Small country residence. 

16. Is tliis TTord iu its modern meaning strong enougli to 
justify its use licre? IVhat is its derivation 1 



38 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 



VI 

SIR ROGER'S GUESTS 

The ''Spectator's" A^iews on the Aimless 
Existence of Younger Sons 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. icS, July 4, 171 1) 

Introductory Note, This essay gives a most interesting 
glimpse of the character and mode of life of a " gentleman " in 
eighteenth-century England. 

x\s a contrast "to Sir Roger, who makes the most of his oppor- 
tunities for usefulness in his sphere of life, this paper sketches 
the character of Will Wimble, who has yielded to the many 
temptations which prompt a country gentleman to a life of idle- 
ness and frivolity. It appears to the Spectator that the 
same assiduity and attention to detail which enable Will 
Wimble to support with credit the character of a poor relation, 
would have won him fame and fortune in a mercantile career. 

'"''Gratis an/ielafis, multa agefido nihil age 71$.^'^ 

Ph^edrus, Lib. II. Fab. v. 3. 

As I was yesterday morning walking with Sir Roger 
before his house, a country fellow brought him a huge 
fish, which he told him Mr.^ William Wimble had 
caught that very morning ; and that he presented it 
with his service to him, and intended to come and dine 
with him. At the same time he delivered a letter, 
which my friend read to me as soon as the messenger 
left him. 

1. " Out of breath to no purpose and very bcsy doing nothing." 
IVliat \% the application of tlie title verse 7 

2. The title used by younger sons and brothers in families whose 
more important members claimed the title of Sir or Esquire. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 39 

Sir Roger, — I desire jou to accept of a jack,'^ which is the 
best I have caught this season. I intend to come and stay with 
3'ou a week, and see how the perch bite in the Black River. I 
observed with some concern, the last time I saw jou upon the 
bowling-green, 4 that jour whip wanted a lash to it ; I will bring 
half a dozen with me that I twisted last week, which I hope will 
serve jou all the time jou are in the countrj. I have not been 
out of the saddle for six dajs last past, having been at Eton^ 
with Sir John's eldest son. He takes to his learning hugelj. 
I am, sir, Your humble servant, 

Will Wimble. 

This extraordinary^ letter, and message that accom- 
panied it, made me very curious to know the character 
and quality of the gentleman who sent them ; which I 
found to be as follows. Will Wimble is younger 
brother"^ to a baronet, and descended of the ancient 
family of the Wimbles. He is now between forty and 
fifty ; but being bred to no business and born to no 
estate, he generally lives with his elder brother as super- 
intendent of his game.^ He hunts a pack of dogs^ 
better than any man in the country, and is very famous 
for finding out a hare. He is extremely well versed in 
all the little handicrafts of an idle man : he makes a 

3. A pickerel. 

4. Bowling was a very popular out-of-door sport, and the greens, 
kept smooth for Its exercise, were general meeting-places. 

5. On the Thames, twenty miles above London, famous for its 
ancient public school. 

6. Ill Tvtiat respects is this letter " extraordinary " I 

7. Under the English law hereditary landed estates ordinarily pass 
entire from a deceased owner to his eldest son. Younger sous, unless 
provided for from their father's personal estate, must make their 
own way. 

8. Head game-keeper. 

9. Manages a pack of dogs. 



40 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

May-fly to a miracle ;i^ and furnishes the whole country 
with angle-rods. 1^ As he is a good-natured, ofticious ^'^ 
fellow, and very much esteemed upon account^^ of his 
family, he is a ^velcome guest at ever}^ house, and keeps 
up a good correspondence among all the gentlemen 
about him. He carries a tulip-root^^ in his pocket 
from one to another, or exchanges a puppy between a 
couple of friends that live perhaps in the opposite sides 
of the county. Will is a particular favorite of all the 
young heirs, wdiom he frequently obliges with a net 
that he has weaved, or a setting-dog that he has trained 
himself. These gentleman-like manufactures and oblig- 
ing little humors make Will the darling of the country. 
Sir Roger was proceeding in the character of him,^^ 
when we saw him make up to us with two or three 
hazel twigs^^ in his hand that he had cut in Sir Roger's 
w^oods, as he came through them, in his way to the 
house. I w^as very much joleased to observe on one 
side the hearty and sincere welcome with which Sir 
Roger received him, and on the other, the secret joy 
which his guest discoveredi"^ at sight of the good old 
knight. After the first salutes w^ere over, Will desired 

10. £xplaiii the sentence. 
^ 11. ^Vliat do ^ve call these in America \ 

12. Courteous and obliging. AVhat would such au epithet mean 
if used by an American 1 

13. Compare our idiom. 

14. The fancy for cultivating tulips, which in the 17th century had 
been carried to extravagant excess, was not yet wholly extinct. 

15. Paraphrase this sentence. 

16. For the whip handles. 

17. Study the derivation. State the meaning^ here, and the 
usual nveaniiig. 



S/J^ ROGER DE COVER LEY 41 

Sir Roger to lend him one of his servants to carry a set 
of shuttlecocks^^ he had with him in a little box to a 
lady that lived about a mile off, to whom it seems he 
had promised such a present for above this half year. 
Sir Roger's back was no sooner turned but honest Will 
began to tell me of a large cock pheasant that he had 
sprung^ ^ in one of the neighboring woods, w^ith two or 
three other adventures of the same nature. Odd and 
uncommon characters are the game that I look for, and 
most delight in ; for which reason I was as much 
pleased with the novelty of the person that talked to 
me, as he could be for his life with the springing of a 
pheasant, and therefore listened to him with more than 
ordinary attention. 

In the midst of his discourse the bell rung to dinner, 
where the gentleman I have been speaking of had the 
pleasure of seeing the huge jack he had caught served 
u^D for the first dish in a most sumptuous manner. Upon 
our sitting down to it he gave us a long account how he 
had hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length 
drew it out upon the bank, with several other particulars 
that lasted all the first course. A dish of wild fowl 
that came afterwards furnished conversation for the 
rest of the dinner, whicli concluded with a late invention 
of Will's for improving the quail-pipe. ^^ 

Upon withdrawing into my room after dinner, I was 

18. Light balls of cork tipped with feathers, used in the game of 
Shuttlecock. 

19. Frightened out of his covert. 

20. A whistle, the sound of which allures quail or other small birds 
into a net. 



42 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

secretly touched with compassion towards the honest 
gentleman that had dined with us ; and could not but 
consider with a great deal of concern, how so good a 
heart and such busy hands were wholly employed in 
trifles ; that so much humanity should be so little bene- 
ficial to others, and so much industry so little advan- 
tageous to himself. The same temper of mind and 
application to affairs might have recommended him to 
the public esteem, and have raised his fortune in another 
station of life. What good to his country or himself 
might not a trader or merchant have done with such 
useful though ordinary qualifications ? 

Will Wimble's is the case of many a younger brother 
of a great family, who had rather see their children 
starve like gentlemen, than thrive in a trade or pro- 
fession that is beneath their quality. This humor fills 
several parts of Europe with pride and beggary. It is 
the happiness of a trading nation, ^^ like ours, that the 
younger sons, though incapable of any liberal art or 
profession, may be placed in such a way of life, as may 
perhaps enable them to vie with the best of their family ; 
accordingly we find several citizens^'^ that were launched 
into the world with narrow fortunes, rising by an honest 
industry to greater estates than those of their elder 

21. Paragraphs 5 and 6 contain the central thought of the essay. 
Addison's argument is that the high spirit and adventurous courage 
sjupposed to be the heritage of the well-born might and should be use- 
fully employed in extending British trade in distant lands. 'What is 
the significance of the word ** gentleman" as Addison uses itl 

22. In Europe, cities and towns were originally mere commu- 
nities of tradesmen, hence citizen and tradesman were regarded 
as synonymous words. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 43 

brothers. It is not improbable but Will was formerly 
tried at divinity, law, or physic ;2^ and that finding his 
genius did not lie that way, his parents gave him up at 
length to his own inventions. But certainly, however 
improper^^ he might have been for studies of a higher 
nature, he was perfectly well turned^^ for the occupa- 
tions of trade and commerce. As I think this is a point 
which cannot be too much inculcated, I shall desire my 
reader to compare what 1 have here written with what 
I have said in my twenty-first speculation. L, 

23. I^xplain tkis sentence. 

24. Unfit. Compare tlie American meaning; of the word. 

25. Substitute a more familiar ^v^orcl. 

Suggestion.— Compare the treatment of the subject in the six 
essays read, and discuss the variety or the similarity of form. Re- 
write paragraplis 2, 3, and 4, substituting familiar idioms and words 
for obsolete or unfamiliar ones. 



44 SIjR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



VII 

SIR ROGER'S ANCESTORS 

The Spectator Moralizes on the Vicissitudes 
OF Ancient Families 

(Steele, in Spectator ^ No. 109, July 5, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. This essay lightly touches upon the 
vicissitudes in the history of ancient families, due to the pecu- 
liar characters of the inen who, in different ages, have perpetu- 
ated the family name and enjoyed the family estate. 

" Abiiormis sapie?is.'" ^ 

Horace, Lib. II. Sat. ii. 3. 

I ^VAS this morning walking in the gallery'^ when Sir 
Roger entered at the end opposite to me, and advancing 
towards me, said, he was glad to meet me among his 
relations the De Coverleys, and hoped I liked the con- 
versation of so much good company, who were as silent 
as myself. I knew he alluded to the pictures, and as 
he is a gentleman who does not a little value himself 
upon his ancient descent, I expected he would give me 
some account of them. We were now arrived at the 
upper end of the gallery, when the knight faced towards 
one of the pictures, and as wx stood before it, he entered 
into the matter, after his blunt way of saying things, as 
they occur to his imagination, without regular introduc- 
tion, or care to preserve the appearance of chain of 
thought. 

L "Wise in his own way." 
2. Describe tite place. 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 45 

" It is," said he, " worth while to consider the force 
of dress ; and how the persons of one age differ from 
those of another, merely by that only. One may observe 
also, that the general fashion of ons age has been fol- 
lowed by one particular set of people in another, and by 
them preserved from one generation to another. Thus 
the vast jetting^ coat and small bonnet, which was the 
habit in Harry the Seventh's'* time, is kept on in the 
yeomen of the guard ;^ not without a good and politic 
view, because they look a foot taller, and a foot and a 
half broader : besides that the cap leaves the face 
expanded, and consequently more terrible, and fitter to 
stand at the entrance of palaces. 

''This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after 
this manner, and his cheeks would be no larger than 
mine, were he in a hat as I am. He was the last man 
that won a prize in the Tilt-yard^ (which is now a com- 
mon street before Whitehall) . You see the broken 
lance that lies there by his right foot ; he shivered that 
lance of his adversary all to pieces ; and bearing himself, 
look you, sir, in this manner, at the same time he came 



/ 

3. Puffed out. 

4. Identify and give dates. 

5. The duties of this ancient and honorable corps are now confined 
to the wardship of the Tower of London. Tlic yeomen still wear the 
costume described, and from the well-fed appearance which it gives 
them they derive their popular appellation of ** Beef-Eaters." 

6. An exercise ground formerly attached to all English castles and 
royal residences, in which knights in armor made trial of their skill 
in arms by riding against each other, each trying to unhorse his 
adversar}-; or, by skillfully resisting his adversary's shock, to cause 
him to break his spear. 



46 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

^vithin the target"^ of the gentleman who rode against 
him, and taking him with incredible force^ before him 
on the pommel of his saddle, he in that manner rid the 
tournament over,^ with an air that showed he did it 
rather to perform the rule of the lists, ^^ than expose his 
enemy ; however, it appeared he knew how to make 
use of a victory, and with a gentle trot he marched up 
to a gallery w^here their mistress sat (for they were 
rivals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and 
pardonable insolence. I don't know but it might be 
exactly where the coffee-house is now. 

' ' You are to know this my ancestor was not only of 
a military genius, but fit also for the arts of peace, for 
he played on the bass viol as wxll as any gentleman at 
court ; you see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt 
sword. The action at the Tilt-yard you may be sure 
w^on the fair lady, who was a maid of honor, and the 
greatest beauty of her time ; here she stands, the next 
picture. You see, sir, my great-great-great-grand- 
mother has en the new-fashioned petticoat, except that 
the modern is gathered at the waist ; my grandmother 
appears as if she stood in a large drum, whereas the' 
ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart. ^^ For all 
this lady was bred at court, she became an excellent 

7. i. e. He managed his lance so skillfully that his adversary was 
unable to protect his body with his shield. 

8. 1. e. Pressing his lance under his adversary's armpit, he lifted 
him from his horse. 

9. i. c. Rode over the lists. 

10. That a knight claiming the victory must ride around the field 
or enclosure, after his combat, to show that he was unhurt. 

11. The costumes described are two different stj'les of " hoop skirt.'* 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 47 

country wife, she broughti^^ ten children, and when I 
show you the library, you shall see in her own hand 
(allowing for the difference of the language) ^*^ the best 
recei^^t now in England both for a hasty-pudding and a 
white-pot. 1^ 

" If you please to fall back a little, because ^tis neces- 
sary to look at the three next pictures at one view ; these 
are three sisters. She on the right hand, who is so very 
beautiful, died a maid ; the next to her, still handsomer, 
had the same fate, against her Avill ; this homely thing 
in the middle had both their portions added to her own, 
and was stolen by^^ a neighboring gentleman, a man of 
stratagem and resolution, for he poisoned three mastiffs 
to come at her, and knocked down two deer^-stealers in 
carrying her off. Misfortunes ha23pen in all families : 
the theft of this rompi^ and so much money, was no 
great matter to our estate. But the next heir that pos- 
sessed it w^as this soft gentleman, whom you see there : 
obser\ e the small buttons, the little boots, the laces, the 
slashes^" about his clothes, and above all the posture he 
is drawn in, (which to be sure-w^as his own choosing;) 
you see he sits w^ith one hand on a desk writing, and 

12. Bore. 

13. The rules of grammar and orthography, unknown in the reign 
of Henry Til. 

14. To make a "white-pot." — "Take a pint and a half of cream, a 
quarter of a pound of sugar, a little rose water, a few dates sliced, a 
f CAV raisins of the sun, 6 or 7 eggs, and a little mace, a sliced lemon, cut 
sippet fashion for your dishes you bake in, and dip them in sack or 
rose water." 

15. /. c. Was eloped with. 

16. A thoughtless, inconsiderate young woman. 

17. Cats in the fabric displaying a lining of a different color. 



48 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

looking as it were another way, like an easy writer, or 
a sonneteer : he was one of those that had too much wit 
to know how to live in the world ; he was a man of no 
justice, but great good manners ; he ruined everybody 
that had anything to do with him, but never said a rude 
thing in his life ; the most indolent person in the w^orld, 
he w^ould sign a deed that passed away half his estate 
with his gloves on, but would not put on his hat before 
a lady if it were to save his country. He is said to be 
the first that made love by squeezing the hand. He left 
the estate with ten thousand pounds debt upon it, but 
however by all hands I have been informed that he was 
every w^ay the finest gentleman in the w^orld. That 
debt lay h^avy on our house for one generation, but it 
w^as retrieved by a gift from that honest man you see 
there, a citizen^^ of our name, but nothing at all akin to 
us. I know Sir Andrew Freeport has said behind my 
back, that this man was descended from one of the ten 
children of the maid of honor I showed you above ; but 
it w^as never made out. We winked at the thing indeed, 
because money was wanting at that time."^^ 

Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned 
my face to the next portraiture. 

Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in 
the following manner. " This man (pointing to him 
I looked at) I take to be the honor of our house. Sir 
Humphrey de Coverley ; he was in his dealings as punc- 



18. See IVote 22, Paper 108. 

19. i. e. Allowed him to indulge his fancy that he was a member of 
our farnily. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEV 49 

tual as a tradesman, and as generous as a gentleman. 
He would have thought himself as much undone by 
breaking his word, as if it were to be followed by bank- 
ruptcy. He served his country as knight of this shire^^ 
to his dying day. He found it no easy matter to main- 
tain an integrity in his words and actions, even in things 
that regarded the offices which were incumbent upon 
him, in the care of his own affairs and relations of life, 
and therefore dreaded (though he had great talents) to 
go into employments of state, Adhere he must be exposed 
to the snares of ambition. Innocence of life and great 
ability were the distinguishing parts of his character ; 
the latter, he had often observed, had led to the destruc- 
tion of the former, and used frequently to lament that 
great and good had not the same signification. He was 
an excellent husbandman,^! but had resolved not to 
exceed such a degree of wealth ; all above it he bestowed 
in secret bounties many years after the sum he aimed at 
for his own use was attained. Yet he did not slacken 
his industry, but to a decent old age spent the life and 
fortune which was superfluous to himself, in the service 
of his friends and neighbors." 

Here we were called to dinner, and Sir Roger ended 
the discourse of this gentleman, by telling mc, as we 
followed the servant, that this his ancestor was a brave 
man, and narrowly escaped being killed in the civil 
wars; ''for,'' said he, ''he was sent out of the field 
upon a private message, the day before the battle of 

20. Representative of tliis county in rarlianient. 

21. Manager of his resources. 



50 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

Worcester.""^- The whim of narrowly escaping by 
having been within a day of danger, with other matters 
above mentioned, mixed with good sense, left me at a 
loss whether I was more delighted with my friend's 
vsasdom or simplicity. R. 

22. 'What Avould l)e the date of this << narrow escape "1 
Suggestion.— Can you perceive any difference in style, subject or 
method of treating tlie subject, between the essays written by Addi- 
son and those written by Steele? 



S/J^ ROGER DE COVERLEV 51 



VIII 

COVERLEY SUPERSTITIONS 

''Mr. Spectator's" Views on Ghosts and 
Popular Superstitions 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. no, July 6, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. In this Paper, Addison points out the 
folly of superstitious terrors, but does not express entire dis- 
belief in the appearance of spirits. Indeed, he goes so far as 
to say, "I think a person who is thus terrified with the imag- 
ination of ghosts and specters much more reasonable than one 
who, contrary to the reports of all historians, sacred and pro- 
fane, ancient and modern, and to the tradition of all nations, 
thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless." 

In this connection, it will be interesting to note the manner 
in which a 19th century American poet expresses his views on 
the same subject. Let the student read Whittier's " Vanishers." 

" Horror ubique a?iiinos^ simul ipsa silentia terrent.^^^ 

Virgil, ^^Eneid, Lib. II. 755. 

At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among 
the ruins of an old abbey, ^ there is a long walk of aged 
elms ; which are shot up so very high, that when one 
passes under them, the rooks*^ and crows that rest upon 
the tops of them seem to be cawing in another region. 
I am very much delighted with this sort of noise, which 

L ••Everywhere horror terrifies the mind; tlie very silence is 
terrible." 

2. Such ruins are common in rural England. Early in the 16th cen- 
tury most of the English monasteries were suppressed by King Henry 
Vril, theirproperty confiscated by the crown, and their lands granted 
to lay proprietors. 

3. Describe a rook, a crow, a raven. 



5:> SI/^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

1 consider as a kind of natural prayer to that Being who 
supphes the wants of his whole creation, and who, in 
the beautiful language of the Psalms, feedeth the young 
ravens that call upon him. I like this retirement the 
better, because of an ill report it lies under of being 
haunted ; for which reason (as I have been told in the 
family) no living creature ever walks in it besides the 
chaplain.'* My good friend the butler desired me with 
a ^ery grave face not to venture-^ myself in it after sun- 
set, for that one of the footmen had been almost frighted 
out of his wits by a spirit that appeared to him in the 
shape~ of a black horse without a head ; to which he 
added, that about a month ago one of the maids coming 
home late that way with a pail of milk upon her head, 
heard such a rustling among the bushes that she let it 
fall. 

I w^as taking a walk in this place last night between 
the hours of nine and ten, and could not but fancy it 
one of the most proper^ scenes in the world for a ghost 
to appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up 
and down on every side, and half covered with ivy and 
elder-bushes, the harbors'^ of several solitary birds which 
seldom make their appearance till the dusk of the even- 
ing. The place was formerly a churchyard, and has 
still sevcrnl marks in it of graves and burving-places. 

4. According to popular belief, spirits and demons had no power 
in the presence or a priest. 

5. Ill modern £iiglish, is <* venture ** a reflexive verb! 

6. ^Vhat word ^vould -we Bubstitute for tbis adjective 1 

7. Compare tbis use and tbe American use of Ibe Avord. 
W^bicU usage is general, and wbicb specific 1 



. SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 53 

There is such an echo among the old ruins and vaults, 
that if you stamp but a little louder than ordinary, you, 
hear the sound repeated. At the same time the walk of 
elms, with the croaking of the ravens which from time 
to time are heard from the tops of them, looks exceed- 
ing solemn and venerable. These objects naturally raise 
seriousness and attention ; and when night heightens 
the awfulness of the place, and pours out her super- 
numerary^ horrors upon everything in it, I do not at ali 
wonder that weak minds fill it with specters and 
apparitions. 

Mr. Locke, 9 in his chapter of the Association of Ideas, 
has very curious remarks to show how by the prejudice 
of education one idea often introduces into the mind a 
whole set that bear no resemblance to one another in 
the nature of things. Among several examples of this 
kind, he produces the following instance. '' The ideas 
of goblins and sprites have really no more to do with 
darkness than light : yet let but a foolish maid inculcate 
these often on the mind of a child, and raise them there 
together, possibly he shall never be able to separate 
them again so long as he lives ; but darkness shall ever 
afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they 
shall be so joined, that he can no more bear the one 
than the other. '^lo 

As I was walking in this solitude, where the dusk of 
the evening conspired with so many other occasions of 

8. Additional. 

9. Identify *' Mr. liocke.'' The quotation is from his ♦' Essay on 
the Human Understanding," Book ii, chapter 33, 

10. What purpose does this quotation from Ijocke serve ! 



54 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

terror, I observed a cow grazing not far from me, which 
an imagination that is apt to startle^^ might easily have 
construed into a black horse without a head : and I dare 
say the poor footman lost his wits upon some such 
trivial occasion. 

My friend Sir Roger has often told me with a great 
deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate he 
found three parts of his house altogether useless ; that 
the best room in it had the reputation of being haunted, 
and by that means was locked up ; that noises had been 
heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a 
servant to enter it after eight o'clock at night ; that the 
door of one of his chambers was nailed up, because 
there went a story in the family that a butler had for- 
merly hanged himself in it ; and that his mother, who 
lived to a great age, had shut up half the rooms in the 
house, in which either her husband, a son, or daughter 
had died. The knight seeing his habitation reduced to 
so small a compass, and himself in a manner shut out 
of his own house, upon the death of his mother ordered 
all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised^'^ by 
his chaplain, who lay in every room one after another, 
and by that means dissipated the fears which had so 
long reigned in the family. 

1 should not have been thus particular upon these 
ridiculous horrors, did T not find them so very much 

11. Do we use '^ startle " as an active or a passive verb in tliis 
sense 1 

12. This was not recognized by the English Church as a clerical 
function, but rural clergymen were frequently called upon to perform 
the ceremony. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 55 

prevail in all parts of the country. At the same time I 
think a person who is thus terrified with the imagination 
of ghosts and specters much more reasonable than one 
who, contrary to the reports of all historians sacred and 
profane, ancient and modern, and to the traditions of 
all nations, thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and 
groundless : could not I give myself up to this general 
testimony of mankind, I should to the relations of par- 
ticular persons who are now living, and whom I cannot 
distrust in other matters of fact. I might here add, that 
not only the historians, to whom we may join the poets, 
but likewise the philosophers of antiquity have favored 
this opinion. Lucretius^^ himself, though by the course 
of his philosophy he was obliged to maintain that the 
soul did not exist separate from the body, makes no 
doubt of the reality of apparitions, and that men have 
often appeared after their death. This T think very 
remarkable ; he was so pressed with the matter of 
fact which he could not have the confidence to deny, 
that he was forced to account for it by one of the most 
absurd unphilosophical notions that was ever started. 
He tells us, that the surfaces of all bodies are perpetually 
flying off from their respective bodies, one after another ; 
and that these surfaces or thin cases that included each 
other whilst they were joined in the body like the coats 
of an onion, are sometimes seen entire when they are 
separated from it ; by which means we often behold the 



13. A Roman poet and philosopher born about 55 B. C. He wrote a 
didactic poem on Natural History in which lie supports the belief of 
the Epicurean School of Philosophy that the soul dies with the body 



56 S/J^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

shapes and shadows of persons who are either dead or 
absent. 

1 shall dismiss this paper with a story out of 
Josephus/^ not so much for the sake of the story 
itself as for the moral reflections- with w^hich the author 
concludes it, and which I shall here set down in his own 
words. '' Glaphyra the daughter of King Archelaus, 
after the death of her two first husbands (being married 
to a third, who was brother to her first husband, and so 
passionately in love with her that he turned off his 
former wife to make room for this marriage) had a very 
odd kind of dream. She fancied that she saw her first 
husband coming towards her, and that she embraced him 
with great tenderness ; when in the midst of the pleasure 
which she expressed at the sight of him, he reproached 
her after the following manner : ' Glaphyra,' says he, 
' thou hast made good the old saying, that women are 
not to be trusted. Was not I the husband of thy virgin- 
ity? Have I not children by thee? How couldst thou 
forget our loves so far as to enter into a second marriage, 
and after that into a third. However, for the sake of 
our past loves, 1 shall free thee from thy present re- 
proach, and make thee mine forever.' Glaphyra told 
this dream to several women of her acquaintance, and 
died soon after. 1^^ thought this story might not be 
impertinent in this place, wherein 1 speak of those 



14. The famous Jewish historian. The quotation is from his work 
on the ** Antiquities of the Jews." 

15. i. e. Josephus, whose words are quoted. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 57 

kings \^^ besides that, the example deserves to be taken 
notice of as it contains a most certain proof of the 
immortality of the soul, and of Divine Providence. If 
any man thinks these facts incredible, let him enjoy his 
own opinion to himself, but let him not endeavor to 
disturb the belief of others, w^ho by instances of this 
nature are excited to the study of virtue." L. 

16. The Jewish dynasty of the Herods. 

Suggcstiou.— Point out that paragraph which seems to you to 
possess exceptional grace and beauty of style. Compare this essay 
with the preceding essays as regards interest and felicitous choice of 
subject. 



58 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

IX 
THE COVERLEY SABBATH 

(Addison, in Spectator, No. 112, July 9, 1711) 

I?itrodticto7y Note. Paper No. 112 is an essay on Sunday 
observance, and the influence of the customs of the English 
Church on the character of the rural population. 

'' ' hBavaroVs fi^v irpcjTa Oaovg^ vofiu uc SmKecrai, 

Pythagoras. 

I AM always very well pleased with a country Sun- 
day ;^ and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were 
only^ a human institution, it would be the best method 
that could have been thought of for the polishing and 
civilizing of mankind. It is certain the country people 
would soon deo^enerate into a kind of savao*es and bar- 
barians, were there not such frequent returns of a stated 
time, in which the whole village meet together with 
their best faces, and in their cleanliest habits,^ to con- 
verse with one another upon indifferent subjects, hear 
their duties explained to them, and join together in 
adoration of the Supreme Being. Stmday clears away 

1. " First, in obedience to the country's laws, worship the immortal 
gods." 

2. Note the avoidance of the word Sabbath, which was introduced 
into the English language by the Puritans, whose religious obser- 
vances this essay, by implication, condemns. 

3. i. e. A merely liumaii institution. 

4. Re"viTite tbe expression ** cleanliest liabits," ^iviii^ the 
same thought in modern words. Write a sentence to illustrate 
the difference in our phraseology between <<cleanest" and 
'* cleanliest." 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 59 

the rust of the whole week, not only as it refreshes in 
their minds the notions of religion, but as it puts both 
the sexes upon appearing in their most agreeable forms, 
and exerting all such qualities as are apt to give them a 
figure in the eye of the village.^ A country fellow dis- 
tinguishes himself as much in the churchyard, as a citizen 
does upon the Change,^ the whole parish politics being 
generally discussed in that place either after sermon or 
before the bell rings. 

My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman,'^ has 
beautified the inside of his church with several texts of 
his own choosing : he has likewise given a handsome 
pulpit-cloth, and railed in the communion-table^ at his 
own expense. He lias often told me, that at his coming 
to his estate he found his parishioners very irregular ; 
and that in order to make them kneel and join in the 
responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and a 
Common Prayer Book : and at the same time employed 
an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country 
for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of 
the Psalms; upon which they now very much value 
themselves, and indeed outdo most of the country 
churches that I have ever heard. 

As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he 
keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody 

5. Be^vrite in your own words tlie <* Spectator's '' views on 
llie value of Sunday observances. 

G. i. e. As a merchant of London does on the floor of the Exchange. 

7. A supporter of the Established Church. 

8. The Turitans, in the time of their triumph under the Common- 
wealth, had removed the railings which separated the clergy from the 
hiity in the churches. 



60 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

to sleep in it^ besides himself ; for if by chance he has 
been surprised into a short nap at sermon, ujDon recov- 
ering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if 
he sees anybody else nodding, either wakes them him- 
self, or sends his servant to them. Several other of the 
old knight's particularities^^ break out upon these 
occasions : sometimes he will be lengthening out a ^erse 
in the singing Psalms, half a minute after the rest of the 
congregation have done with it ; sometimes, when he is 
pleased with the matter of his devotion, he pronounces 
"Amen" three or four times to the same prayer; and 
sometimes stands up wdien everybody else is upon their 
knees, to count the congregation, or see if any of his 
tenants are missing. 

I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old 
friend, in the midst of the service, calling out to one 
John Matthews to mind what he was about, and not 
disturb the congregation. This John Matthews it seems 
is remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time 
was kicking his heels for his diversion. This authority 
of the knight, though exerted in that odd manner which 
accompanies him in all circumstances of life, has a very 
good effect upon the parish, who are not polite^^ enough 
to see anything ridiculous in his behavior ; besides that 
the general good sense and worthiness of his character 



9. What is tlie antecedent! 

10. PecuUarities. n 

11. Accustomed to the ways of city life. Show hy sentences the 
difference hetiveen this original meaning and our derived 
meaning of the word. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 61 

makes his friends observe these little singularities as foils 
that rather set off than blemish his good qualities. 

As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes 
to stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The 
knight walks down from his seat in the chancel between 
a double row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him 
on each side ; and every now and then inquires how 
such a one's wife, or mother, or son, or father do,^^ 
whom he does not see at church ; which is understood 
as a secret reprimand to the person that is absent. 

The chaplain has often told me, that upon a cate- 
chising day, when Sir Roger has been pleased with a 
boy that answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be 
given him next day for his encouragement ; and some- 
times accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. 
Sir Roger has likewise added five pounds a year to the 
clerk's place ; 13 and that he may encourage the young 
fellows to make themselves perfect in the church 
service, has promised upon the death of the present in- 
cumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according to 
merit. 

The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his 
chaplain, and their mutual concurrence in doing good, 
is the more remarkable, because the very next village 
is famous for the differences and contentions that rise 



12. Is this number of the verb justifiable 7 

13. In English parish clmrches one of the parishioners wlio lias a 
fair education and a good voice is selected to lead the congregation 
in reading the responses during the service. He also keeps the church 
records and assists the chaplain in various ways, and hence is allowed 
a small salary. 



62 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

between the parson and the squire, who live in a per- 
petual state of war. 14 The parson is always preaching 
at the squire, and the squire to be revenged on the parson 
never comes to church. The squire has -made all his 
tenants atheists and tithe-stealers ;i^ w^hile the parson in- 
structs them every Sunday in the dignity of his order, 
and insinuates to them in almost every sermon, that he 
is a better man than his patron. In short, matters are 
come to such an extremity, that the squire has not said 
his prayers either in public or private this half year ; 
and that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend 
his manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole 
congregation. 

Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the 
country, are very fatal to the ordinary people ; who are 
so used to be dazzled with riches, that they pay as much 
deference to the understanding of a man of an estate, 
as of a man of learning ; and are very hardly^^ brought 
to regard any truth, how important soever it may be, 
that is preached to them, when they know there are 
several men of five hundred a year who do not believe 
it.i^ L. 

14. The patron of a church living had no power to deprive the in- 
cumbent of it. He could only fill a vacancy. 

15. The tithes were the taxes due from the farmers for the support 
of the Church. 

Ifi. With great difficulty. 

17. 1>iscii.ss ttie question whether the statement of this last 
paragraph could, in any %^ay, be made to apply to conditions 
in an American community. 

Suggestion.— Show by a topical analysis that the manner in 
which this narrative is written is a luodel of literary excellence. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 63 



X 

SIR ROGER'S ROMANCE 

"Mr. Spectator's" Views on the P'olly of 
Men in Love 

(Steele, in Spectator^ No. 113, July 10, 1711) 

Introductory Note, This essay describes Sir Roger's passion 
tor a ladj who compels his admiration while she holds him at 
a distance, and comments upon the effect of this passion upon 
the worthy baronet's character and understanding. 

" HcErent infixi pectore vultus.''^'^ 

Virgil, .^neid. Lib. IV. 4. 

In my first description of the company in which I 
pass most of my time, it may be remembered that I 
mentioned a great affliction which my friend Sir Roger 
had met with in his youth, which was no less than a 
disappointment in love. It happened this evening, that 
we fell into a very pleasing walk^ at a distance from his 
house: as soon as we came into it, "It is," quoth the 
good old man, looking round hiin with a smile, '' very 
hard that any part of my land should be settled upon^ 
one who has used me so ill as the perverse widow did ; 
and yet I am sure I could not see a sprig of any bough 
of this whole walk of trees, but I should reflect upon 
her and her se\'erity. She has certainly the finest hand 

1. ♦' Her every look remains imprinted on liis breast." 

2. Compare this ivitJi the Aiiiericau idioiu. 

3. The widow might be regarded as the occupant of the hind, since 
the association of lier name with the spot prevented the owner from 
making any use of it. 



64 SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 

of any woman in the world. You are to know this was 
the place wherein I used to muse upon her ; and by that 
custom I can never come into it, but the same tender 
sentiments revive in my mind, as if I had actually 
walked with that beautiful creature under these shades. 
I have been fool enough to carve her name on the bark 
of several of these trees ; so unhappy is the condition 
of men in love, to attempt the removing'* of their passion 
by the methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. 
She has certainly the finest hand of any woman in the 
world." 

Here followed a profound silence ; and I was not dis- 
pleased to observe my friend falling so naturally into a 
discourse, which I had ever before taken notice he 
industriously avoided. After a very long pause he 
entered upon an account of this great circumstance in 
his life, with an air which 1 thought raised my idea of 
him above what I had ever had before ; and gave me 
the picture of that cheerful mind of his before it received 
that stroke which has ever since affected his words and 
actions. But he went on as follows. 

" I came to my estate in my twenty-second year, and 
resolved to follow the steps of the most worthy of my 
ancestors who have inhabited this spot of earth before 
me, in all the methods of hospitality and good neighbor- 
hood, for the sake of my fame ; and in country sports 
and recreations, for the sake of my health. In my 
twenty-third year I was obliged to serve as sheriff of 
the county ; and in my servants, officers and whole 

4. Change to the tnodern idiom. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 65 

equipage, indulged the pleasure of a young man (who 
did not think ill of his own person) in taking that pub- 
lic occasion of showing my figure and behavior to 
advantage. You may easily imagine to yourself what 
appearance I made, who am pretty tall, rid w^ell, and 
was very well dressed, at the head of a whole county,^ 
with music before me, a feather in my hat, and my 
horse well bitted. I can assure you I was not a little 
pleased with the kind looks and glances I had from all 
the balconies and windows as I rode to the hall where 
the assizes^ were held. But when I came there, a beau- 
tiful creature in a widow's habit sat in court to hear the 
event of a cause"^ concerning her dower. ^ This com- 
manding creature (who was born for the destruction of all 
who behold her) put on such a resignation in her coun- 
tenance, and bore the whispers of all around the court 
with such a pretty uneasiness, I warrant you, and then 
recovered herself from one eye to another, till she was 
perfectly confused by meeting something so wistful in 
all she encountered, that at last, with a murrain to her,^ 
she cast her bewitching eye upon me. I no sooner met 
it, but I bowed like a great surprised booby ; and know- 
ing her cause to be the first which came on, I cried, like 
a captivated calf as I was, 'Make way for the defend- 



5. The posse comitatus or array of the military tenants of the 
Crown. 

6. The periodical session of the superior court of common law. 

7. i. e. Decision of a case. 

8. Her widow's rights in her deceased husband's estate. 

9. A mild and meaningless objurgation. An American might say, 
" Plague take her." 



66 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

ant's witnesses. '^^ This sudden partiality made all the 
county iiTunediately see the sheriff also was become a 
slave to the fine widow. During the time her cause 
was upon trial, she behaved herself, I warrant you, 
with such a deep attention to her business, took oppor- 
tunities to have little billets handed to her counsel, then 
would be in such a pretty confusion, occasioned, you 
must know, by acting before so much compan}', that 
not only I but the whole court was prejudiced in her 
favor ;> and all that the next heir to her husband had to 
urge, was thought so groundless and frivolous, that 
when it came to her counsel to reply, there was not 
half so much said as every one besides in the court 
thought he could have urged to her advantage. You 
must understand, sir, this perverse woman is one of 
those unaccountable creatures, that secretly rejoice in 
the admiration of men, but indulge themselves in no 
further consequences. Hence it is that she has ever 
had a train of admirers, and she removes from lier 
slaves in town to those in the country, according to the 
seasons of the year. She is a reading lady, and far 
gone in the pleasures of friendship ; she is always 
accompanied by a confidante, w^ho is ^vitness to her 
daily protestations against our sex, and consequently 
a bar to her first steps towards love, upon the strength 
of her ow^n maxims and declarations. 

" However, I must needs say this accomplished mis- 
tress of mine has distinguished me above the rest, and 
has been known to declare Sir Roger de Coverley was 

10. Instead of saying simply '• witnesses." 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 67 

the tamest and most human of all the brutes in the 
country. I was told she said so, by one who thought 
he rallied me ; but upon the strength of this slender 
encouragement, of being thought least detestable, I 
made new liveries, new-paired my coach horses, sent 
them all to town to be bitted, ^^ and taught to throw 
their legs well, and move all together, before I pre- 
tended^^ to cross the country and w^ait upon her. As 
soon as 1 thought my retinue suitable to the character 
of my fortune and youth, I set out from hence to make 
my addresses. The particular skill of this lady hc^^s 
ever been to inflame your wishes, and yet command 
respect. To make her mistress of this art, she has a 
greater share of knowledge, wit, and good sense, than 
is usual even among men of merit. Then she is beau- 
tiful beyond the race of women. If you won't let her 
go on with a certain artifice with her eyes, and the skill 
of beauty, she will arm herself with her real charms, ^''^ 
and strike you with admiration instead of desire. It is 
certain that if you were to behold the whole woman, 
there is that dignity in her aspect, that composure in 
her motion, that complacency in her manner, that if 
her form makes you hope, her merit makes you fear. 
But then again, she is such a desperate scholar, ^^ th:it 
no country gentleman can approach her without being 
a jest. As I was going to tell you, when I came to her 

11. Accustomed to fashionable harnesses and methods of driving. 

12. i. e. Before I was pretentious enough. IVIint ^voiil<l the ex- 
pression, as it stands lierc, mean in modern £nglisU 1 

13. i. e. Of intellect and character. 

14. i. e. So incomparably learned. 



68 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

house I was admitted to her presence with great civiHty ; 
at the same time she placed herself to be first seen by 
me in such an attitude, as I think you call the posture 
of a picture, that she discovered new charms, and I at 
last came towards her with such an awe as made me 
speechless. This she no sooner observed but she made 
her advantage!-^ of it, and began a discourse to me con- 
cerning love and honor, as they both are followed by 
pretenders, and the real votaries to them. When she 
had discussed these points in a discourse, which I verily 
believe was as learned as the best philosopher in Europe 
could possibly make, she asked me whether she was so 
happy as to fall in with my sentiments on these impor- 
tant particulars. Her confidante sat by her, and upon 
my being in the last confusion and silence, this mali- 
cious aid of hers, turning to her, says, ' I am very glad 
to observe Sir Roger pauses upon this subject, and 
seems resolved to deliver all his sentiments upon the 
matter when he pleases to speak.' They both kept 
their countenances, and after I had sat half an hour 
meditating how to behave before such profound cas- 
uists, ^^ I rose up and took my leave. Chance has since 
that time thrown me very often in her way, and she as 
often has directed a discourse to me which I do not 
understand. This barbarity has kept me ever at a dis- 
tance from the most beautiful object my eyes ever 
beheld. It is thus also she deals with all mankind, and 



15. Cliange to the American Idiom. 

16. Subtle reasoners who can silence their opponent if they cannot 
prove their case. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 69 

you must make love to her, as you would conquer the 
Sphinx, ^^ by posing her. But were she like other 
women, and that there were any talking to her, how 
constant must the pleasure of that man be, who could 
converse with a creature — But, after all, you may be 
sure her heart is fixed on some one or other. They 
say she sings excellently : her voice in her ordinary 
speech has something in it inexpressibly sweet. You 
must know I dined with her at a public table the day 
after I first saw her, and she helped me to some tansy^® 
in the eye of all the gentlemen in the country : she has 
certainly the finest hand of any woman in the world. 
I can assure you, sir, were you to behold her, you 
would be in the same condition ; for as her speech is 
music, her form is angelic. But I find I grow irregularis 
while I am talking of her : but indeed it would be stu- 
pidity to be unconcerned at such perfection. Oh the 
excellent creature, she is as inimitable to all women, as 
she is inaccessible to all men." 

I found my friend begin to rav^e, and insensibly led 
him towards the house, that we might be joined by 
some other company ; and am convinced that the 



17. A monster of Greek mythology who propounded a riddle to 
every man who approached her, and destroyed those who could 
not answer it. When the riddle was finally answered the Sphinx 
destroyed herself. Read the story of <<(Edipu8'^ from the Clas 
sical Dictionary. 

18. Tansy pudding, a favorite dish of the time. 
Suggestion.— Write from memory a sketch of the "Widow." 

Wliat differences would there have been in this essay had Addison 
written it instead of Steele? 

19. i. e. Become muddled in speech. 



70 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

widow is the secret cause of all that inconsistency 
which appears in some parts of my friend's discourse ; 
though he has so much command of himself as not 
directly to mention her, yet according to that of Mar- 
tial,-^ ^vhich one knows not how to render in English, 
Duvi tacet haitcloquitur. I shall end this paper with 
that whole epigram, which represents with much humor 
my honest friend's condition. 

" Quicquid agit Rufus nihil est nisi Naevia Rufo, 
Si gaudet, si flet, si tacet, hanc loquitur : 

Coenat, propinat, poscit, negat, annuit, una est 
Nsevia; si non sit Nsevia mutus erit. 

Scriberet hesterna patri cum luce salutem, 
Nsevia lux, inquit, Naevia numen, ave." 

" Let Rufus weep, rejoice, stand, sit, or walk, 
Still he can nothing but of Nsevia talk : 
Let him eat, drink, ask questions, or dispute. 
Still he must speak of Nsevia, or be mute. 
He writ to his father, ending with this line, 
I am, mv lovelv Noevia. ever thine." 



R. 



20. A famous !Latiii epigrammatic poet, 1st century A. D. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 



XI 

SIR ROGER'S ECONOMY 

''Mr. Spectator's" Views on Keeping up 
Appearances 

(Steele, in Spectator^ No. 114, July 11, 171 1) 

l7itroductory Note. In this essay the Spectator philosophizes 
on the waste of energy and sacrifice of contentment involved in 
needless concern over money matters. 

''^ Paupertatts pudor et fuga.'' ^ 

Horace, Lib. I. Ep. xviii. 24, 

Economy^ in our affairs has the same effect upon our 
fortunes which good breeding has upon our conversa- 
tions. There is a pretending behavior in both cases, 
which, instead of making men esteemed, renders them 
both miserable and contemptible. We had yesterday at 
Sir Roger's a set of country gentlemen who dined with 
him ; and after dinner the glass was taken by those who 
pleased, pretty plentifully. Among others I observed a 
person of a tolerable good aspect, who seemed to be 
more greedy of liquor than any of the company, and 
yet, methought, he did not taste it with delight. As he 
grew warm, he was suspicious of everything that was 
said ; and as he advanced towards being fuddled, his 
humor grew worse. At the same time his bitterness 
seemed to be rather an inward dissatisfaction in his own 

1. "Tho shame and dread of poverty." 

2. Study ttie derivation and g;ive tlie true meanln§; of tlie 
vi^ord. 



72 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

mind, than any dislike he had taken at the company. 
Upon hearing his name, 1 knew him to be a gentleman 
of a considerable fortune in this county, but greatly in 
debt. AMiat gives the unhappy man this peevishness of 
spirit is, that his estate is dip23ed,3and is eating out with 
usury ;4 and yet he has not the heart to sell any part of 
it. His proud stomach, at the cost of restless nights, 
constant inquietudes, danger of affronts, and a thousand 
nameless inconveniences, preserves this canker in his 
fortune, rather than it shall be said he is a man of fewer 
hundreds a year than he has been commonly reputed. 
Thus he endures the torment of poverty, to avoid the 
name of being less rich. If you go to his house you see 
great plenty ; but served in a manner that shows it is all 
unnatural, and tliat the master's mind is not at home. 
There is a certain waste and carelessness in the air of 
everything, and the whole appears but a covered indi- 
gence, a magnificent poverty. That neatness and cheer- 
fulness, which attends the table of him who lives within 
compass, is ^vanting, and exchanged for a libertine^ way 
of service in all about him. 

This gentleman's conduct, though a very common 
way of management, is as ridiculous as that officer's 
would be, who had but few men under his command, 
and should take the charge of an extent of country rather 
than of a small pass. To pay for, personate, and keep 
in a man's hands, a greater estate than he really has, is 

3. Mortgaged. 

4. His estate . . . usury. Put tKls sentence Into fan&iliar phra- 
seology. 

5. " Free and easy." 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 73 

of all others the most unpardonable vanity, and must in 
the end reduce the man who is guilty of it to dishonor. 
Yet if we look round us in any county of Great Britain, 
we shall see many in this fatal error : if that may be 
called by so soft a name, ^vhich proceeds from a false 
shame of appearing what they really are, when the con- 
trary behavior w^ould in a short time advance them to 
the condition which they pretend to. 

Laertes^ has fifteen hundred pounds a year ; which is 
mortgaged for' six thousand pounds ; but it is impossible 
to convince him that if he sold as much as would pay 
off that debt, he w^ould save four shillings^ in the pound, 
which he gives for the vanity^ of being the reputed 
master of it. Yet if Laertes did this, he would, per- 
haps, be easier in his own fortune ; but then Irus, a 
fellow of yesterday, who has but twelve hundred a year, 
would be his equal. Rather than this shall be, Laertes 
goes on to bring well-born beggars into the world, and 
every twelvemonth charges his estate with at least one 
year's rent more by the birth of a child. 

Laertes and Irus are neighbors, whose way of living 



6. Laertes and Irus are names from Homer's Odyssey^ signifying a 
well-born man and an upstart beggar. 

7. i. e. Of annual rental. This was the British land tax in war time, 
equivalent to a tax of one per cent on valuation, as direct taxes are 
assessed in the United States. 

8. This means that Laertes' debt, reckoning the value of land at 
twenty times the annual rental, amounts to one-fifth of his estate. 
The income from this mortgaged fifth would hardly pay the interest 
charge, and the land tax must be paid in addition. If Laertes should 
take this advice, his nominal income would be reduced by three hun- 
dred a year; but, actually, he would be better off by at least sixty 
pounds a year. 



74 SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 

are an abomination to each other. Irus is moved by the 
fear of poverty, and Laertes by the shame of it. Though 
the motive of action is of so near affinity in both, and 
may be resolved into this, 'Hhat to each of them poverty 
is the greatest of all evils," yet are their manners very 
widely different. Shame of poverty makes Laertes 
launch into unnecessary equipage,^ vain expense, and 
lavish entertainments ; fear of poverty makes Irus allow 
himself only plain necessaries, appear without a servant, 
sell his own corn, attend his laborers, and be himself a 
laborer. Shame of poverty makes Laertes go every day 
a step nearer to it ; and fear of poverty stirs up Irus to 
make every day some further progress from it. 

These different motives produce the excesses which 
men are guilty of in the negligence of and provision for 
themselves. Usury, stockjobbing, extortion and oppres- 
sion, have their seed in the dread of want ; and vanity, 
riot and prodigality, from the shame of it : but both 
these excesses are infinitely below the pursuit of a reason- 
able creature. After we have taken care to command 
so much as is necessary for maintaining ourselves in the 
order of men suitable to our character, the care of super- 
fluities is a vice no less extravagant, than the neglect of 
necessaries would have been before. ^^ 

Certain it is that they are both out of Nature when 
she is followed with reason and good sense. It is from 



9. Give the meaning. In %vliat connection do ^vc usually 
use tlie wordl 

10. Put into your OY»'n words tlie argument ol" this para- 
graph. 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 75 

this reflection that I always read Mr. Cowley^^ with the 
greatest pleasure : his magnanimity ^^ is as much abo^ e 
that of other considerable men as his understanding ; 
and it is a true distinguishing spirit in the elegant 
author 13 who published his works, to dwell so much 
upon the temper of his mind and the moderation of his 
desires : by this means he has rendered his friend as 
amiable as famous. That state of life which bears the 
face of poverty with Mr. Cowley's '' great vulgar, "i'* is 
admirably described ; and it is no small satisfaction to 
those of the same turn of desire, that he produces the 
authority of the wisest men of the best age of the world, 
to strengthen his opinion of the ordinary pursuits of 
mankind. 

It would methinks be no ill maxim of life, if accord- 
ing to that ancestor of Sir Roger, whom I lately men- 
tioned, every man would point to himself what sum he 
would resolve not to exceed. He might by this means 
cheat himself into a tranquillity on this side of that 
expectation, or convert what he should get above it to 
nobler uses than his own pleasures or necessities. This 
temper of mind would exempt a man from an ignorant 
envy of restless men above him, and a more inexcusable 
contempt of happy men below him. This would be 
sailing by some compass, living with some design ; but 

11. A polished and scholarly poet of the first half of the 17th century. 

12. Greatness of mind. The condition of being unmoved by sordid 
and vulgar considerations. I>o wt> use the word in just this senge? 

13. Thomas Spratt, Bishop of Rochester. 

14. This expression occurs in Cowley's •• Essay of Greatness " :— 

" Hence, ye profane, I hate ye all, 
Both the great vulgar and the small." 



76 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

to be eternally bewildered in prospects of future gain, 
and putting on unnecessary armor against improbable 
blows of fortune, is a mechanic being which has not 
good sense for its direction, but is carried on by a sort 
of acquired instiiict towards things below^ our considera- 
tion and unworthy our esteem. ^^ It is possible that the 
tranquillity I now enjoy at Sir Roger's may have created 
in me this way of thinking, wdiich is so abstracted from 
the common relish of the world .-i^ but as I am now^ in 
a pleasing arbor surrounded with a beautiful landscape, 
I find no inclination so strong as to continue in these 
mansions, so remote from the ostentatious scenes of life ; 
and am at this present writing philosopher enough to 
conclude wath Mr. Cowley ; 

" If e'er ambition did mj fancy cheat, 
With any wish so mean as to be great ; 
Continue, Heav'n, still from me to remove 
The humble blessings of that life I love." 

R. 

15. How far do you tHink tliat ctiaiige of coiiditiong since 
Addison's time lias made ttiis advice inapplicable to tlie pres- 
ent generation? 

16. ** Which is . . . world." Put this clause into modern plira- 
seolog^. 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 77 

XII 

THE COVERLEY HUNT 

"Mr. Spectator's" Views on the Value of 

Labor and Exercise Combined with 

Study and Contemplation 

(Addison, Spectator, No. 115, July 12, 1711) 

hitroductory Note. This Paper is an essay on the necessity 
of labor as a means of keeping the human machine in good 
working order, and on the value, in this connection, of athletic 
sports to those whose circumstances might suggest a sedentary 
life. The form of athletics most popular with English country 
gentlemen, in the l8th century, was hunting wild animals, 
on horseback. " In early times it had been regarded as the duty 
of the well-armed and mounted warrior landholders to protect 
their dependants against dangerous wild animals. Later, as 
wars became fewer and the landlords found time heavy on their 
hands, the duty of the chase became the jealously guarded privi- 
lege of the well-born, and this principle was embodied in the 
English game laws. All the larger wild animals had been exter- 
minated in England at an early period. In the i8th century, 
the beasts of the chase, other than deer which were practically 
tame and were bred in parks, were foxes that robbed the farmers' 
hen roosts ; hares, destructive to growing crops ; and otters that 
destroyed fish. These animals might easily have been extermi- 
nated or kept in check, but they were preserved, by the laws, for 
the sport of the landowners, vmder the rules of the hunting 
field. The game birds (parti idge, pheasants, etc.') were so pro- 
tected by these strict laws that their flocks filled every covert, and 
could, in the season, be slaughtered by the hundi'ed. 

" Ut sit mens sa?ia in corpore satio.^^ i 

Juvenal, Sat. x. 356. 
1. *• That there may be a sound mind in a sound body." 



78 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

Bodily labor is of two kinds, either that which a man 
submits to for his livelihood, or that which he under- 
goes for his pleasure. The latter of them generally 
changes the name of labor for that of exercise, but differs 
only from ordinary labor as it rises from another motive. 

A country life abounds in both these kinds of labor, 
and for that reason gives a man a greater stock of 
health, and consequently a more perfect enjoyment of 
hniiself, than any other w^ay of life. I consider the 
body as a system of tubes and glands, or to use a more 
rustic phrase, a bundle of pipes and strainers, fitted to 
one another after so wonderful a manner as to make a 
proper engine for the soul to work with. This descrip- 
tion does not only comprehend the bowels, bones, 
tendons, veins, nerves and arteries, but every muscle 
and every ligature, which is a composition of fibers, 
that are so many imperceptible tubes or pipes inter- 
woven on all sides with invisible glands or strainers. 

This general idea of a human body, without consider- 
ing it in its niceties of anatomy, lets us see how abso- 
lutely necessary labor is for the right preservation of it. 
There must be frequent motions and agitations, to mix, 
digest, and separate the juices contained in it, as well as 
to clear and cleanse that infinitude of pipes and strainers 
of which it is composed, and to give their solid parts a 
more firm and lasting tone. Labor or exercise ferments 
the humors, casts them into their proper channels, 
throws off redundancies, and helps Nature in those 
secret distributions, without w^hich the body cannot 
subsist in its vigor, nor the soul act with cheerfulness. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 79 

I might here mention the effects which this has upon 
all the faculties of the mind, by keeping, the understand- 
ing clear, the imagination untroubled, and refining those 
spirits that are necessary for the proper exertion of our 
intellectual faculties, during the present laws of union 
between soul and body. It is to a neglect in this partic- 
ular that we must ascribe the spleen, ^ which is so fre- 
quent in men of studious and sedentary tempers, as well 
as the vapors^ to which those of the other sex are so 
often subject. 

Had not exercise been absolutely necessary for our 
well-being. Nature would not have made the body so 
proper for it, by giving such an activity to the limbs, 
and such a pliancy to every part as necessarily produce 
those compressions, extensions, contortions, dilatations, 
and all other kinds of motions that are necessary for the 
preservation of such a system of tubes and glands as 
has been before mentioned. And that we might not 
want inducements to engage us in such an exercise of 
the body as is proper for its welfare, it is so ordered 
that nothing valuable can be procured without it. Not 
to mention riches and honor, even food and raiment are 
not to be come at without the toil of the hands and 
sweat of the brows. Providence furnishes materials, 
but expects that we should work them up ourselves. 
The earth must be labored before it gives its increase, 
and when it is forced into its several products, how 
many hands must they pass through before they are fit 
for use? Manufactures, trade, and agriculture, natu- 

2. Nervous irritability. 



80 S/J^ ROGER BE COVERLEY 

rally employ more than nineteen parts of the species in 
twenty ; and as for those who are not obliged to labor, 
by the condition in which they are born, they are more 
miserable than the rest of mankind, unless they indulge 
themselves in that voluntary labor which goes by the 
name of exercise.*^ 

My friend Sir Roger has been an indefatigable man 
in business of this kind, and has hung several parts of 
his house with the trophies of his former labors. The 
walls of his great hall are covered with the horns of 
several kinds of deer that he has killed in the chase, 
which he thinks the most valuable furniture of his 
house, as they afford him frequent topics of discourse, 
and show that he has not been idle. At the lower end 
of the hall, is a large otter's skin stuffed with hay, which 
his mother ordered to be hung up in that manner, and 
the knight looks upon with great satisfaction, because it 
seems he was but nine years old when his dog killed 
him. A little room adjoining to the hall is a kind of 
arsenal filled with guns of several sizes and inventions, 
with which the knight has made great havoc in the 
woods, and destroyed many thousands of pheasants, 
partridges and woodcocks. His stable doors are patched 
with noses that belonged to foxes of the knight's own 
hunting down. Sir Roger showed me one of them that 
for distinction sake has a brass nail struck through it, 
which cost him about fifteen hours' riding, carried him, 
through half a dozen counties, killed him a brace of 

3. Reproduce tlie argument of tliis paragrapli. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 81 

geldings,^ and lost above half his dogs. This the knight 
looks upon as one of the greatest exploits of his life. 
The perverse widow, whom I have given some account 
of, was the death of several foxes ; for Sir Roger has 
told me that in the course of his amours he patched the 
western door of his stable. Whenever the widow was 
cruel, the foxes were sure to pay for it. In proportion 
as his passion for the widow abated and old age came 
on, he left off fox-hunting; but a hare is not yet safe 
that sits within ten miles of his house. 

There is no kind of exercise which I would so recom- 
mend to my readers of both sexes as this of riding, as 
there is none which so much conduces to health, and is 
every w^ay accommodated to the body, according to the 
idea which I have given of it. Dr. Sydenham^ is very 
lavish in its praises ; and if the English reader will see 
the mechanical effects of it described at length, he may 
find them in a book published not many years since, 
under the title of '' Medicina Gymnastica."^ For my 
own part, when I am in town, for want of these oppor- 
tunities, I exercise myself an hour every morning upon 
a dumb-beir that is placed in a corner of my room, and 
pleases me the more because it does everything I require 
of it in the most profound silence. My landlady and 
her daughters are so well acquainted with my hours of 

4. Two hunting horses. 

5. A famous English physician of the 17th century. His works are . 
written in Latin. 

6. Published in 1704. The title means '* Bodily Exercise as a 
Medicine." 

7. Evidently not the dumb-bell of modern nse, but a machine in 
frame work. 



82 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

exercise, that they never come into my room to disturb 
me whilst I am ringing. 

When I was some years younger than I am at present, 
I used to employ myself in a more laborious diversion, 
which I learned from a Latin treatise of exercises that 
is written w4th great erudition : it is there called the 
a/.ioaayia?' or the fighting with a man's own shadow, 
and consists in the brandishing of two short sticks 
grasped in each hand, and loaded with plugs of lead at 
either end. This opens the chest, exercises the limbs, 
and gives a man all the pleasure of boxing, Avithout the 
blows. I could wish that several learned men would 
lay out that time which they employ in controversies 
and disputes about nothing, in this method of fighting 
with their own shadows. It might conduce very much 
to evaporate the spleen, w^hich makes them uneasy to 
the public as w^ell as to themselves. ^ 

To conclude, as 1 am a compound of soul and body, 
I consider myself as obliged to a double scheme of 
duties I and I think I have not fulfilled the business of 
the day when I do not thus employ the one in labor 
and exercise, as well as the other in study and 
contemplation.!^ L. 

S. The skiomacliia is the modern exercise of swinging Indian 
clubs. 

9. explain tlifs sentence. Comment upon it. 

10. Point out tlie tiumorous touches in tliis essay. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 83 



XIII 
SIR ROGER AS A HUNTSMAN 

(Budgell, in Spectator^ No. ii6, July 13, 171 1) 
Introductory Note. This Paper continues the theme of No. 
115- 

" Vocat inge7itt clamore CithoBroji^ 

Taygetiqu e canes.'''' ^ 

Virgil, Georgics, iii. 

Those who have searched into human nature observe 
that nothing so much show^s the nobleness of the soul, 
as that its felicity consists in action. Every man has 
such an active principle in him, that he will find out 
something to employ himself upon in whatever place 
or state of life he is posted. I have heard of a gentle- 
man who was under close confinement in the Bastile^ 
seven years ; during which time he amused himself in 
scattering a few small pins about his chamber, gather- 
ing them up again, and placing them in different figures 
on the arm of a great chair. He often told his friends 
afterwards, that unless he had found out this piece of 
exercise, he verily believed he should have lost his 
senses.^ 

After what has been said, I need not inform my 
readers, that Sir Roger, with whose character I hope 
they are at present pretty well acquainted, has in his 

1. •' Here is Cithaeron calling us with wild halloo, and the hounds 
of Taygete." 

2. The famous state prison of the French kings in Paris. 

3. What is the point oftliis paragrapli 7 



84 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

youth gone through the whole course of those rural 
diversions ^vhich the country abounds in ; and which 
seem to be extremely well suited to that laborious indus- 
try a man may observe here in a far greater degree than 
in towns and cities. I have before hinted at some of 
my friend's exploits : he has in his youthful days taken 
forty coveys of partridges in a season ; and tired many 
a salmon with a line consisting but of a single hair.^ 
The constant thanks and good wishes of the neighbor- 
hood always attended him, on account of his remark- 
able enmity towards foxes ; having destroyed more of 
those vermin in one year, than it was thought the w^iole 
country could have produced. Indeed, the knight does 
not scruple to own among his most intimate friends 
that in order to establish his reputation this way, he 
has secretly sent for great numbers of them out of other 
counties, which he used to turn loose about the country 
by night, that he might the better signalize himself in 
their destruction the next day. His hunting horses 
were the finest and best managed in all these parts : his 
tenants are still full of the praises of a gray stone-horse 
that unhappily staked^ himself several years since, and 
was buried with great solemnity in the orchard. 

Sir Roger, being at present too old for fox-hunting, 
to keep himself in action, has disposed of his beagles,^ 

4. Fishing lines were coinnaonlj' made of twisted hair and fastened 
to the lip of the rod. The lines were heaviest at tlie rod's end and 
lightest at the hook, where, according to the usual custom, only two 
hairs were twisted, and where, sometimes, only a single hair was 
used. 

5. Became impaled on a stake in leaping a hedge. 

6. Fox hounds are evidently meant. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 85 

and got a pack of stop-hounds.'^ What these want in 
speed, he endeavors to make amends for by the deep- 
ness of their mouths and the variety of their notes, 
which are suited in such manner to each other, that the 
whole cry makes up a complete consort. He is so nice^ 
in this particular that a gentleman having made him a 
present of a very fine hound the other day, the knight 
returned it by the servant with a great many expres- 
sions of civility ; but desired him to tell his master, that 
the dog he had sent was indeed a most excellent bass, but 
that at present he only wanted a counter-tenor. Could 
I believe my friend had ever read Shakespeare, I should 
certainly conclude he had taken the hint from Theseus 
in the " Midsummer Night's Dream.'' 

" Mj hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind; 
So flcw'd, so sanded ; and their heads are hung 
With ears that sweep away the morning dew; 
Crook-kneed, and dew-lapp'd like ThessaHan bulls ; 
Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, 
Each under each. A cry more tunable 
Was never halloo'd to, nor cheer'd with horn." 

Act. IV. sc. I. 

Sir Roger is so keen at this sport that he has been out 
almost every day since I came down ; and upon the 
chaplain's offering to lend me his easy pad,^ I was pre- 
vailed on yesterday morning to make one of the com- 
pany. I was extremely pleased, as we rid along, to 

7. Bogs that could bo stopped or called off the set nt at the hunts- 
man's pleasure. These were the true beagles as is shown bj^ reference 
to their tuneful voices in cry. 

8. Exacting. 

9. Riding horse. 



86 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

observe the general benevolence^^ of all the neighbor- 
hood tow^ards my friend. The farmers' sons thought 
themselves happy if they could open a gate for the 
good old knight as he passed by ; which he generally 
requited with a nod or a smile, and a kind inquiry after 
their fathers and uncles. 

After we had rid about a mile from home, we came 
upon a large heath, and the sportsmen began to beat. 
They had done so for some time, when, as I was at a 
little distance from the rest of the company, I saw a 
hare pop out from a small furze-brake almost under my 
horse's feet. I marked the way she took, which I 
endeavored to make the company sensible of by extend- 
ing my arm ; but to no purpose, till Sir Roger, who 
knows that none of my extraordinary motions are insig- 
nificant, rode up to me, and asked me if puss^^ was 
gone that way? Upon my answering " Yes," he imme- 
diately called in the dogs, and put them upon the scent. 
As they were going off, I heard one of the country 
fellows muttering to his companion, that it was a won- 
der they had not lost all their sport, for want of the 
silent gentleman's crying " Stole away." 

This, with my aversion to leaping hedges, made me 
withdraw to a rising ground, from w^hence I could have 
the picture of the whole chase, without the fatigue of 
keeping in with the hounds. The hare immediately 
threw them above a mile behind her ; but I w^as pleased 
to find, that instead of running straight forwards, or in 

10. I>o \vc use tlie -word in just tliis sense 1 

11. A hare. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 87 

hunter's language, '' flying the country/' as I was afraid 
she might have done, she wheeled about, and described 
a sort of circle round the hill where I had taken my 
station, in such manner as gave me a very distinct view 
of the sport. I could see her first pass by, and the 
dogs some time afterwards unraveling the whole track 
she had made, and following her through all her doubles. 
I was at the same time delighted in observing that defer- 
ence which the rest of the pack paid to each particular 
hound, according to the character he • had acquired 
amongst them : if they were at fault, ^^ and an old hound 
o_f reputation opened but once, he was immediately 
followed by the whole cry ; while a raw dog or one 
who was a noted liar, might have yelped his heart out, 
without being taken notice of. 

The hare now, after having squatted two or three 
times, and been put up again as often, came still nearer 
lo the place where she was at first started. The dogs 
pursued her, and these were followed by the jolly 
knight, who rode upon a white gelding, encompassed 
by his tenants and servants, and cheering his hounds 
with all the gayety of five and twenty. One of the 
sportsmen rode up to me, and told me, that he was sure 
the chase was almost at an end, because the old dogs, 
which had hitherto lain behind, now headed the pack. 
The fellow was in the right. Our hare took a large 
field just under us, followed by the full cry in view. 
I must confess the brightness of the weather, the cheer- 
fulness of everything around me, the chiding of the 

12. i. €. Had lost the scent. 



88 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

hounds, which was returned upon us in a double echo, 
from two neighboring hills, with the hallooing of the 
sportsmen, and the sounding of the horn, lifted my 
spirits into a most lively pleasure, which I freely in- 
dulged because I was sure it was innocent. If I was under 
any concern, it was on the account of the poor hare, 
that was now quite spent, and almost within the reach 
of her enemies ; when the huntsman^^ getting forward 
threw down his pole before the dogs. They were now 
within eight yards of that game which they had been 
pursuing for almost as many hours ; yet on the signal 
before mentioned they all made a sudden stand, and 
though they continued opening!^ as much as before, 
durst not once attempt to pass beyond the pole. At the 
same time Sir Roger rode forward, and alighting, took 
up the hare in his arms ; which he soon delivered up 
to one of his servants with an order, if she could be 
kept ali\'e, to let her go in his great orchard ; where it 
seems he has several of these prisoners of war, w^ho live 
together in a very comfortable captivity. I was highly 
pleased to see the discipline of the pack, and the good 
nature of the knight, who could not find in his heart to 
murder a creature that had given him so much diversion. 
As we were returning home, I remembered that 
Monsieur PaschaU^ in his most excellent discourse on 
the misery of man, tells us, that all our endea\'ors after 

13. The dog keeper who directed the movements of the pack in the 
field. He was on foot and carried a long pole to assist him in leaping 
ditches. 

14. Baying. 

15. A famous French theologian of the 17th century. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 89 

greatness proceed from nothing but a desire of being 
surrounded by a multitude *of persons and affairs that 
may hinder us from looking into ourselves, which is a 
view we cannot bear. He afterwards goes on to show 
that our love of sports comes from the same reason, and 
is particularly severe upon hunting. '' What," says he, 
''unless it be to drown thought, can make men throw 
away so much time and pains upon a silly animal, 
which they might buy cheaper in the market ? " The 
foregoing reflection is certainly just, when a man suffers 
his whole mind to be drawn into his sports, and alto- 
gether loses himself in the woods ; but does not affect 
those who propose a far more laudable end from this 
exercise, I mean, the preservation of health, and keep- 
ing all the organs of the soul in a condition to execute 
her orders. Had that incomparable person, whom 1 
last quoted, been a little more indulgent to himself in 
this point, the world might probably have enjoyed him 
much longer ; whereas through too great an application 
to his studies in his youth, he contracted that ill habit 
of body, which, after a tedious sickness, carried him off 
in the fortieth year of his age ; and the whole history 
we have of his life till that time, is but one continued 
account of the behavior of a noble soul struggling under 
innumerable pains and distempers. ^^ 

For my own part 1 intend to hunt twice a week dur- 
ing my stay with Sir Roger ; and shall prescribe the 
moderate use of this exercise to all my country friends, 

16. IVtiat point does Mr. Spectator make in this parafirapli \ 



90 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

as the best kind of physic for mending a bad constitu- 
tion, and preserving a good one. 

I cannot do this better, than in the following lines 
out of Mr. Dryden.i'' 

" The first physicians by debauch were made ; 
Excess began, and Sloth sustains the trade. 
By chase our long-Hv'd fathers earn'd their food; 
Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood; 
But Ave their sons, a painper'd race of men, 
Ai'e dwindled down to threescore years and ten. 
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought. 
Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 
The wise for cure on exercise depend : 
God never made his work for man to mend." 

X. 

17. Identify. 

Suggestion.— Define the following technical words : beat, unrav- 
eling, doubles, cry, put up again, cliiding, spent. 

Point out some passages in which Mr. Budgell's style lacks the 
smoothness of that of Addison or Steele. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 91 

XIV 

THE COVERLEY WITCH 

"Mr. Spectator's" Views on Witchcraft 

(Addison, in Spectator ^^o. 117, July 14, 171 1) 

hitroductory Note, The theme of Paper No. 117 is the belief 
in witchcraft as affecting rural life. 

A witch was a woman, usually old and decrepit, who was be- 
lieved to have made a bargain with Satan to perform certain 
devil's work, which required mortal agency, in return for the 
privilege of employing inferior evil spirits in malevolent schemes 
of her own. 

Belief in the existence of these mysterious and mischievous 
persons was a curious delusion which survived in civilization 
through a mistaken connection with religious ideas. The witch 
panic of 1688-1692, the darkest blot on the early history of New 
England, is a familiar example of the terrible effects which this 
delusion was capable of producing in highly civilized and intelli- 
gent communities. 

Down to the middle of the 19th century, learned men, who 
valued a reputation for religious orthodoxy, did not venture to 
deny the existence of witchcraft, but contented themselves with 
disputing the evidence in individual cases. 

' ' Ipsi sibi somttta fingunt. ' ' ^ 

Virgil, Eclogues, viii. 109. 

There are some opinions in which a man should 
stand neuter, without engaging his assent to one side or 
the other. Such a hovering faith as this, which refuses 
to settle upon any determination, is absolutely necessary 
to a mind that is careful to avoid errors and preposses- 

1. " They make their own dreams." State tlie application of 
this title verse. 



92 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

sions. When the arguments press equally on both sides 
in matters that are indifferent to us, the safest method 
is to give up ourselves to neither. 

I,t is with this temper of mind that I consider the 
subject of witchcraft. When I hear the relations'^ that 
are made from all parts of the world, not only from 
Norway and Lapland,^ from the East and West Indies, 
but from every particular nation in Europe, 1 cannot 
forbear thinking that there is such an intercourse and 
commerce with evil spirits, as that which we express 
by the name of witchcraft. But when I consider that 
the ignorant and credulous parts of the world abound 
most in these relations, and that the persons among us, 
who are supposed to engage in such an infernal com- 
merce, are people of a weak understanding and a 
crazed imagination, and at the same time reflect upon 
the many impostures and delusions of this nature that 
have been detected in all ages, I endeavor to suspend 
my belief till I hear more certain accounts than any 
which have yet come to my knowledge. In short, 
when I consider the question, whether there are such 
persons in the world as those we call witches, my mind 
is divided between the two opposite opinions ; or rather 
(to speak my thoughts freely) I believe in general that 
there is, and has been such a thing as witchcraft ; but 
at the same time can give no credit to any particular 
instance of it.^ 

2. What word ^rould you use in tliis connection 1 

3. The Lapps and Finns have always been credited by their neigh- 
bors with maintaining regular communication with all kinds of evil 
spirits. 

4. What point is made in tliis paragraph 1 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 93 

I am engaged in this speculation, by some occurrences 
that I met with yesterday, which I shall give my reader 
an account of at large. As I was walking with my 
friend Sir Roger by the side of one of his woods, an 
old woman applied herself to me for my charity. Her 
dress and figure put me in mind of the following descrip- 
tion in Otway.^ 

"In a close lane as I pursu'd my journey, 
I spv'd a wrinkled hag, with age grown double, 
Picking dry sticks, and mumbling to herself. 
Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red. 
Cold palsy shook her head; her hands seem'd wither'd ; 
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd 
The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging, 
Which served to keep her carcass from the cold : 
So there was nothing of a piece about her, 
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch 'd 
With diff'rent-color'd rags, black, red, w^hite, yellow, 
And seem'd to speak variety of wretchedness." 

As I was musing on this description, and comparing 
it with the object before me, the knight told me, that 
this very old woman had the reputation of a witch^ all 
over the country, that her lips were observed to be 
always in motion, and that there was not a switch 

5. The lines are from "The Orphan" ;i tragedy by Thomas Otway 
(1680). 

6. According to popular superstition, the witch could ride through 
the air on a broom or a bundle of sticks; could assume, or cause her 
attendant spirits to assume, the form of any animal; and could fill 
the bodirs of human beings with pins and needles causing intense^ 
agony. The words and symbols of the rites of the Christian religion 
were a bar to the operations of witches; but, to counteract the effect 
of prayer, the witches, while others were praying, repeated the same 
prayer backward. 



94 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

about her house which her neighbors did not believe 
had carried her several hundreds of miles. If she 
chanced to stumble, they always found sticks or straws 
that lay in the figure of a cross before her. If she 
made any mistake at church, and cried ''Amen" in a 
wrong place, they never failed to conclude that she was 
saying her prayers backwards. There was not a maid 
in the parish that would take a pin of her, though she 
would offer a bag of money with it. She goes by the 
name of Moll White, and has made the country ring 
with several imaginary exploits which are palmed upon 
her. If the dairy-maid does not make her butter come 
so soon as she should have it, Moll White is at the 
bottom of the churn. If a horse sweats in the stable, 
Moll White has been upon his back. If a hare makes 
an unexpected escape from the hounds, the huntsman 
curses Moll White. Nay (says Sir Roger), I have 
known the master of the pack, upon such an occasion, 
send one of his servants to see if Moll White had been 
out that morning. 

This account raised my curiosity so far, that I begged 
my friend Sir Roger to go w^th me into her hovel, 
w^hich stood in a solitary corner under the side of the 
wood. Upon our first entering Sir Roger winked to 
me, and pointed at something that stood behind the 
door, which, upon looking that way, I found to be an 
old broom-staff. At the same time he whispered me 
in the ear to take notice of a tabby cat that sat in the 
chimney-corner, vs^hich, as the old knight told me, lay 
under as bad a report as Moll White herself ; for be- 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY ^^ 

sides that Moll is said often to accompany her in the 
same shape, the cat is reported to have spoken twice 
or thrice in her life, and to have played several pranks 
above the capacity of an ordinary cat. 

I was secretly concerned to see human nature in so 
much wretchedness and disgrace, but at the same time 
could not forbear smiling to hear Sir Roger, w^ho is a 
little puzzled about the old woman, advising her as a 
justice of peace to avoid all communication wdth the 
Devil, and never to hurt any oE her neighbor's cattle. 
We concluded our visit with a bounty, which w^as very 
acceptable. 

In our return home. Sir Roger told me, that old Moll 
had been often brought before him for making, children 
spit pins, and giving maids the nightmare ; and that the 
country people would be tossing her into a pond''' and 
trying experiments with her every day, if it was not for 
him and his chaplain. 

I have since found upon inquiry, that Sir Roger was 
several times staggered with the reports that had been 
brought him concerning this old woman, and would 
frequently have bound her over to the county sessions, 
had not his chaplain with much ado persuaded him to 
the contrary. 

I have been the more particular in this account, be- 
cause I hear there is scarce a village in England that 
has not a Moll White in it. When an old woman 
begins to dote, and grow chargeable to a parish, she is 
generally turned into a witch, and fills the whole country 

7. If she were a witch, she would float on the water. 



96 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

with extravagant fancies, imaginary distempers and ter- 
rifying dreams. In the mean time, the poor Avretch 
that is the innocent occasion of so many evils begins to 
be frighted at herself, and sometimes confesses secret 
commerce and familiarities that her imagination forms 
in a delirious old age. This frequently cuts off charity 
from the greatest objects of compassion, and inspires 
people with a malevolence towards those poor decrepit 
pafrts of our species, in whom human nature is defaced 
by infirmity and dotage. L. 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 97 

XV 
ROMANCE AT COVERLEY 

Sir Roger's Views on Confidantes and Coquetry 

(Steele, in Spectator ^ No. iiS, July i6, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. This essay is a mild burlesque on the love 
episodes in the popular romances of the day. 

It is possible that Sir Roger's remarks on. the subject of " con- 
fidantes " are intended as a veiled criticism of the conduct of 
Queen Anne, then a v^idow, whose private and public action was 
wholly controlled by feminine advisers. The ruling favorite at 
the time this essay was written (Mrs. Masham) was lending the 
influence of the Crown to a reactionary policy in public affairs, 
at variance with the political views of Addison. 

" HcEret later i let kalis arundo,^'' ^ 

Virgil, ^Eneid, Lib. IV. 73. 

This agreeable seat is surrounded with so many pleas- 
ing walks, which are struck out of a wood,^ in the midst 
of which the house stands, that one can hardly ever be 
weary of rambling from one labyrinth of delight to 
another. To one used to live^ in a city the charms of 
the country are so exquisite, that the mind is lost in a 
certain transport which raises us above ordinary life, 
and is yet not strong enough to be inconsistent with 
tranquillity. This state of mind was I in, ravished with 
the murmur of waters, the whisper of breezes, the sing- 
ing of birds ; and whether I looked up to the heavens, 

1. " The deadly dart still slicks in her side." State the applica- 
tion of tliis title verse. 

2. Explain. 3. IVtiat is our idioml 



98 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

down on the earth, or turned to the prospects around 
me, still struck ^vith new sense of pleasure ; when I 
found by the voice of my friend, who walked by me, 
that we had insensibly strolled into the grove sacred to 
the widow. '' This woman," says he, ''is of all others 
the most unintelligible : she either designs to marry, or 
she does not. What is the most perplexing of all, is, 
that she doth not either say to her lovers she has any 
resolution against that condition of life in general, or 
that she banishes them ; but conscious of her own merit, 
she permits their addresses, vs^ithout fear of any ill con- 
sequence, or want of respect, from their rage or despair. 
She has that in her aspect, against which it is impossible 
to offend. A man whose thoughts are constantly bent 
upon so agreeable an object, must be excused if the 
ordinary occurrences in conversation are below his at- 
tention. I call her indeed perverse, but, alas ! w4iy do 
I call her so? Because her superior merit is such, that 
I cannot approach her without awe, that my heart is 
checked by too much esteem : I am angry that her 
charms are not more accessible, that I am more inclined 
to worship than salute her : how often have I wished 
her unhappy that I might have an opportunity of serving 
her? and how often troubled in that very imagination, 
at giving her the pain of being obliged? Well, I have 
led a miserable life in secret upon her account ; but fancy 
she would have condescended to have some regard for 
me, if it had not been for that watchful animal her 
confidante. 

" Of all persons under the sun" (continued he, calling 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 99 

me by my name) ''be sure to set a mark upon confi- 
dantes :^ they are of all people the most impertinent. 
What is most pleasant to observe in them, is, that they 
assume to themselves the merit of the persons w^hom they 
have in their custody. Orestilla^ is a great fortune, and 
in wonderful danger of surprises, therefore full of suspi- 
cions of the least indifferent thing, particularly careful 
of new^ acquaintance, and of growing too familiar with 
the old. Themista,^ her favorite woman, is every whit 
as careful of whom she speaks to, and what she says. 
Let the ward be a beauty, her confidante shall treat you 
with an air of distance ; let her be a fortune, and she 
assumes the suspicious behavior of her friend and 
patroness. Thus it is that very many of our unmarried 
women of distinction, are to all intents and purposes 
married, except the consideration of different sexes. 
They are directly under the conduct of their whisperer ; 
and think they are in a state of freedom, while they can 
prate Avith one of these attendants of aP men in general, 
and still avoid the man they most like. You do not see 
one heiress in a hundred whose fate does not turn upon 
this circumstance of choosing a confidante. Thus it is 
that the lady is addressed to, presented and flattered, 
only by proxy, in her woman. In my case, how is it 
possible that" — Sir Roger was proceeding in his 
harangue, when we heard the voice of one speaking 
very importunately, and repeating these words, " What, 
not one smile ? " We followed the sound till we came 

4. Confidential attendant. See Introductory Note. 

5. "Mountain nymph." 6. "Propriety." 



100 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

to a close thicket, on the other side of which we saw a 
young woman sitting as it were in a personated sullen- 
ness just over a transparent fountain. Opposite to her 
stood Mr. William, Sir Roger's master of the game. 
The knight whispered me, '' Hist, -these are lovers." 
The huntsman looked earnestly at the shadow of the 
young maiden in the stream, " O thou dear picture, if 
thou couldst remain there in the absence of that fair 
creature whom you represent in the water, how will- 
ingly could I stand here satisfied forever, without troub- 
ling my dear Betty herself with any mention of her 
unfortunate William, whom she is angry with : but alas ! 
when she pleases to be gone, thou wilt also vanish — 
Yet let me talk to thee while thou dost stay. Tell my 
dearest Betty thou dost not more depend upon her, than 
does her William ? Her absence will make away with 
me as well as thee. If she offers to remove thee, I'll 
jump into these waves to lay hold on thee ; herself, her 
own dear person, I must never embrace again — Still 
do you hear me without one smile — It is too much to 
bear" — He had no sooner spoke these v^^ords, but he 
made an offer of throwing himself into the water : at 
which his mistress started up, and at the next instant he 
jumped across the fountain and met her in an embrace. 
She half recovering from her fright, said in the most 
charming voice imaginable, and with a tone of com- 
plaint, " I thought how wxll you would drown yourself. 
No, no, you won't drown yourself till you have taken 
your leave of Susan Holliday." The huntsman, with a 
tenderness that spoke the most passionate love, and with 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 101 

his cheek close to hers, whispered the softest vows of 
fidelity in her ear, and cried ''Don't, my dear, believe 
a word Kate Willow says ; she is spiteful and makes 
stories, because she loves to hear me talk to herself for 
your sake." — '' Look you there," quoth Sir Roger, '' do 
you see there, all mischief comes from confidantes ! 
But let us not interrupt them ; the maid is honest, and 
the man dares not be otherwise, for he knows I loved 
her father : I will interpose in this matter, and hasten 
the wedding. Kate Willow is a witty mischievous 
wench in the neighborhood, who was a beauty ; and 
makes me hope I shall see the perverse widow in her 
condition. She was so flippant with her answers to all 
the honest fellows that came near her, and so very vain 
of her beauty, that she has valued herself upon her 
charms till they are ceased. She therefore now makes 
it her business to prevent other young women from being 
more discreet than she was herself : however, the saucy 
thing said the other day well enough, ' Sir Roger and I 
must make a match, for we are both despised by those 
we loved : ' the hussy has a great deal of power wher- 
ever she comes, and has her share of cunning. 

"However, when I reflect upon this woman, I do 
not know whether in the main I am the worse for hav- 
ing loved her : whenever she is recalled to my imagina- 
tion my youth returns, and I feel a forgotten warmth in 
my veins. This affliction in my life has streaked all my 
conduct with a softness, of which I should otherwise 
have been incapable. It is, perhaps, to this dear image 
in my heart owing, that I am apt to relent, that I easily 



102 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

forgive, and that many desirable things are grown into 
my temper, which I should not have arrived at by better 
motives than the thought of being one day hers. I am 
pretty well satisfied such a passion as I have had is never 
well cured ; and between you and me, I am often apt to 
imagine it has had some wdiimsical effect upon my brain : 
for I frequently find, that in my most serious discourse 
I let fall some comical familiarity of speech or odd 
phrase that makes the company laugh ; however, I can- 
not but allow she is a most excellent woman. When she 
is in the country I warrant she does not run into dairies, 
but reads upon the nature of plants ; but has a glass hive, 
and comes into the garden out of books to see them 
w^ork, and observe the policies of their commonwealth. 
She understands everything. I'd give ten pounds to 
hear her argue with my friend Sir Andrew Freeport 
about trade. No, no, for all she looks so innocent, as 
it were, take my w^ord for it she is no fool." T. 

Suggestion.— In what respects is this essay important in the 
Spectator's character sketch of Sir Roger? 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 103 



XVI 

THE COVERLEY CODE OF MANNERS 

"Mr. Spectator's" Views on Natural and 

Artificial Politeness 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 119, July 17, 1711) 

Introductory Note. In this Paper, Addison shows how cer- 
tain social conventionalities, adopted in the country in imitation 
of the higher refinement of city life, continue to be observed 
among country people long after they have become unfashion- 
able in the towns where they originated. Hence, the living 
fashions of the peasantry are often a distant, but genuine, 
reflection of the extinct fashions of courts. 

" Urgent quant dicu7it Romam, Meliboee^ futavi 
Stultus ego huic 7iostrce similem.'*' 1 

Virgil, Eclogues, i. 20. 

The first and most obvious reflections which arise in 
a man who changes the city for the country, are upon 
the different manners of the people whom he meets 
with in those two different scenes of life. By manners 
I do not mean morals, but behavior and good breeding, 
as they show themselves in the town and in the country. 

And here, in the first place, I must observe a very 
great revolution that has happened in this article of 
good breeding. Several obliging deferences,^ conde- 
scensions and submissions, with many outward forms 
and ceremonies that accompany them, were first of all 

1. "The city which they call Rome, O Melibceus, I imagined, in my 
simplicity, to be like this country village of ours." 

2. Give tlie meaning. 



104 Sm ROGER DE COVERLEY 

brought up among the politer part of mankind, who 
lived in courts and cities, and distinguished themselves 
from the rustic part of the species (who on all occa- 
sions acted bluntly and naturally) by such a mutual 
complaisance and intercourse of civilities. These forms 
of conversation by degrees multiplied and gre^v trouble- 
some ; the modish world found too great a constraint 
in them, and have therefore thrown most of them aside. 
Conversation, . . . was so encumbered with show and 
ceremony, that it stood in need of a reformation to re- 
trench its superfluities, and restore it to its natural good 
sense and beauty. At present therefore an unconstrained 
carriage, and a certain openness of behavior, are the 
height of good breeding. The fashionable world is 
grown free and easy ; our manners sit more loose upon 
us : nothing is so modish as an agreeable negligence. 
In a w^ord, good breeding shows itself most, where to an 
ordinary eye it appears the least. ^ 

If after this we look on the people of mode in the 
country, we find in them the manners of the last age. 
They have no sooner fetched themselves up to the fash- 
ions of the polite world, but the town has dropped them, 
and are nearer to the first state of nature than to those 
refinements which formerly reigned in the court, and 
still prevail in the country. One may now know^ a 
man that never conversed in the world, by his excess of 
good breeding. A polite country squire shall make you 
as manv bows in half an hour, as would serve a courtier 



3. Has tliis fiiiidameiital principle cliaii§;ed since Addison's 
dayl 



I 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 105 

for a week. There is infinitely more to-do about place 
and precedency in a meeting of justices' wives, than in 
an assembly of duchesses.^ 

This rural politeness is very troublesome to a man of 
my temper, who generally take the chair that is next 
me, and walk first or last, in the front or in the rear, as 
chance directs. I have known my friend Sir Roger's 
dinner almost cold before the company could adjust the 
ceremonial, and be prevailed upon to sit doys^n ; and 
have heartily pitied my old friend, when I have seen 
him forced to pick and cull his guests, as they sat at 
the several parts of his table, that he might drink their 
healths according to their respective ranks and qualities. 
Honest Will Wimble, w^ho I should have thought had 
been altogether uninfected with ceremony, gives me 
abundance of trouble in this particular. Though he 
has been fishing all the morning, he will not help him- 
self at dinner till I am served. When we are going out 
of the hall, he runs behind me ; and last night, as we 
were walking in the fields, stopped short at a stile till I 
came up to it, and upon my making signs to him to get 
over, told me, with a serious smile, that sure I believed 
they had no manners in the country. 

There has happened another revolution in the point 
of good breeding, which relates to the conversation 
among men of mode, and which I cannot but look 
upon as very extraordinary. It was certainly one of 
the first distinctions of a well-bred man, to express 

4. Reproduce ttie paraj^raph in your o\tii vrords. Fiud in 
ike dictionary th© expression << to-do." 



106 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

everything that had the most remote appearance of 
being obscene, in modest terms and distant phrases ; 
whilst the clown, who had no such delicacy of concep- 
tion and expression, clothed his ideas in those plain 
homely terms that are the most obvious and natural. 
This kind of good manners was perhaps carried to an 
excess, so as to make conversation too stiff, formal and 
precise ; for which reason (as hypocrisy in one age is 
generally succeeded by atheism in another) conversa- 
tion is in a great measure relapsed into the first extreme ; 
so that at present several of our men of the town, and 
particularly those who have been polished in France, 
make use of the most coarse uncivilized words in our 
language, and utter themselves often in such a manner 
as a clown would blush to hear. 

This infamous piece of good breeding, which reigns 
among the coxcombs of the town, has not yet made its 
way into the country ; and as it is impossible for such 
an irrational way of conversation to last long among a 
people that make any profession of religion, or show^ of 
modesty, if the country gentlemen get into it they will 
certainly be left in the lurch. ^ Their good breeding 
will come too late to them, and they vs^ill be thought a 
parcel of lewd clowns, while they fancy themselves 
talking together like men of wit and pleasure. 

As the two points of good breeding, which I have 
hitherto insisted upon, regard behavior and conversa- 
tion, there is a third which turns upon dress. In this 

5. It is interesting to note that in America this is still a common 
Idiom. Find the word <<lurcli" in the dictionary aud explain 
the expression. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 107 

too the country are very much behindhand. The rural 
beaus are not yet got out of the fashion that took place 
at the time of the Revolution, ^ but ride about the 
country in red coats and laced hats, w^hile the w^omen 
in many parts are still trying to outvie one another in 
the height of their head-dresses. 

But a friend of mine, w^ho is now upon the westeriih 
circuit,'^ having promised to give me an account of the 
several modes and fashions that prevail in the different 
parts of the nation through which he passes, I shall 
defer the enlarging upon this last topic till I have 
received a letter from him, w^hich I expect every post. 

L. 

G. 16S8. 

7. One of the six districts into which England was divided for 
judicial purposes. The "friend" would be a lawyer following the 
courts. 

Suggestion.— Write from memory a paper upon the subject, ** Cov- 
erley Etiquette." 



108 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XVII 
SIR ROGER'S POULTRY 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 120, July iS, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. This essay contains the Spectator's 
reflections upon the Divine Providence that protects and per- 
petuates life on the earth, as evinced in the promptings of 
animal instinct. 

'''■ Eqtitdem credo , quia sit dtvt?ntus Hits 

Inge7ittiiny ^ 

Virgil, Georgics, i. 451. 

My friend Sir Roger is very often merry with me 
upon my passing so much of my time among his 
poultry : he has caught me twice or thrice looking after 
a bird's-nest, and several times sitting an hour or two 
together near a hen and chickens. He tells me he 
believes I am personally acquainted with every fowl 
about his house ; calls such a particular cock my favor- 
ite, and frequently complains that his ducks and geese 
have more of my company than himself. 

1 must confess I am infinitely delighted with those 
speculations of nature which are to be made in a country 
life ; and as my reading has very much lain among books 
of natural history, I cannot forbear recollecting upon 
this occasion the several remarks which I have met with 
in authors, and comparing them with what falls under 
my own observation : the arguments for Providence 

1. " I believe it is because Heaven has given to them a spark of wit." 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 109 

drawn from the natural history of animals being in my 
opinion demonstrative. 

The make of every kind of animal is different from 
that of every other kind ; and yet there is not the least 
turn in the muscles or twist in the fibers of any one, 
which does not render them more proper for that par- 
ticular animal's way of life than any other cast or tex- 
ture of them would have been. 

It is astonishing to consider the different degrees of 
care that descend from the parent to the young, so far as 
is absolutely necessary for the leaving a posterity. Some 
creatures cast their eggs as chance directs them, and 
think of them no further, as insects and several kinds 
of fish : others, of a nicer frame, find out proper beds 
to deposit them in, and there leave them ; as the serpent, 
the crocodile, and ostrich : others hatch their eggs and 
tend the birth, till it is able to shift for itself. 

What can we call the principle which directs every 
different kind of bird to observe a particular plan in the 
structure of its nest, and directs all of the same species 
to work after the same model ? It cannot be imitation ; 
for though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let 
it see any of the works of its own kind, the nest it 
makes shall be the same, to the laying of a stick, with 
all the other nests of the same species. It cannot be 
reason ; for were animals endued with it to as great a 
degree as man, their buildings would be as different as 
ours, according to the different conveniences that they 
would propose to themselves. 

Is it not remarkable, that the same temper of weather, 



110 S//^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

which raises this genial warmth in animals, should cover 
the trees with leaves and the fields with grass for their 
security and concealment, and produce such infinite 
swarms of insects for the support and sustenance of 
their respective broods? 

Is it not wonderful, that the love of the parent should 
be so violent while it lasts ; and that it should last no 
longer than is necessary for the preservation of the 
young? 

But notwithstanding this natural love in brutes is 
much more violent and intense than in rational crea- 
tures, Providence has taken care that it should be no 
longer troublesome to the parent than it is useful to the 
young : for so soon as the wants of the latter cease, the 
mother withdraws her fondness, and leaves them to pro- 
vide for themselves : and what is a very remarkable 
circumstance in this part of instinct, we find that the 
love of the parent may be lengthened out beyond its 
usual time, if the preservation of the species requires 
it ; as we may see in birds that drive away their young 
as soon as they are able to get their livelihood, but 
continue to feed them if they are tied to the nest, or 
confined within a cage, or by any other means appear 
to be out of a condition of supplying their own 
necessities. 

This natural love is not observed in animals to ascend 
from the young to the parent, which is not at all neces- 
sary for the continuance of the species : nor indeed in 
reasonable creatures does it rise in any proportion, as it 
spreads itself downwards ; for in all family affection, 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 111 

we find protection granted and favors bestowed, are 
greater motives to love and tenderness, than safety, 
benefits, or life received. 

One would wonder to hear skeptical men disputing 
for the reason of animals, and telling us it is only our 
pride and prejudices that will not allow them the use of 
that faculty. 

Reason shows itself in all occurrences of life ; whereas 
the brute makes no discovery of such a talent, but in 
what immediately regards his own preservation, or the 
continuance of his species. Animals in their generation 
are wiser than the sons of men ; but their w^isdom is 
confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow 
compass. Take a brute out of his instinct, and you 
find him wholly deprived of understanding. To use an 
instance that comes often under observ^ation. 

With what caution does the hen provide herself a nest 
in places unfrequented, and free from noise and dis- 
turbance ! When she has laid her eggs in such a 
manner that she can cover them, w^hat care does she 
take in turning them frequently, that all parts may par- 
take of the vital warmth? When she leaves them, to 
provide for her necessary sustenance, how punctually 
does she return before they have time to cool, 
and become incapable of producing an animal ? In the 
summer you see her giving herself greater freedoms, 
and quitting her care for above two hours together ; 
but in winter, when the rigor of the season would cliill 
the principles of life, and destroy the young one, she 
grows more assiduous in her attendance, and stays away 



112 S/J^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

but half the time. When the birth approaches, with 
how much nicety and attention does she help the chick 
to break its prison ? Not to take notice of her covering 
it from the injuries of the weather, providing it proper 
nourishment, and teaching it to help itself ; nor to men- 
tion her forsaking the nest, if after the usual time of 
reckoning the young one does not make its appearance. 
A chemical operation could not be followed with greater 
art or diligence, than is seen in the hatching of a chick ; 
though there are many other birds that show an infinitely 
greater sagacity in all the f orementioned particulars. 

But at the same time the hen, that has all this seeming 
ingenuity, (which is indeed absolutely necessary for the 
propagation of the species) considered in other respects, 
is without the least glimmerings of thought or common 
sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an ^'g'g^ and 
sits upon it in the same manner : she is insensible of any 
increase or diminution in the number of those she lays : 
she does not distinguish between her own and those of 
another species ; and when the birth appears of never 
so different a bird, will cherish it for her own. In all 
these circumstances which do not carry an immediate 
regard to the subsistence of herself or her species, she is 
a very idiot. 

There is not, in my opinion, anything more mys- 
terious in nature than this instinct in animals, which 
thus rises above reason, and falls infinitely short of it. 
It cannot be accounted for by any properties in matter, 
and at the same time works after so odd a manner, that 
one cannot think it the faculty of an intellectual being. 



SIjR ROGER DE COVERLEY 113 

For my own part, I look upon it as upon the principle 
of gravitation in bodies, which is not to be explained 
by any known qualities inherent in the bodies them- 
selves, nor from any laws of mechanism, but, according 
to the best notions of the greatest philosophers, is an 
immediate impression from the first Mover, and the 
Divine Energy acting in the creatures. 



Suggestioii.—Reproduce the Spectator's '* arguments for Provi- 
dence drawn from tlie natural history of animals." 



114 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XVIII 

SIR ROGER'S DUCKS 

" Mr. Spectator's " Suggestion to the Royal 
Society 

(Addison, in Spectator, No. 121, July 19, 1711) 

Introductory Note. This Paper has for its theme the adapta- 
tion of the instincts of animals to their structm^e and environ- 
ment. 

* ' Jovis om7iia plena. ' ' 1 

Virgil, Eclogues, iii. 60. 

As I was ^valking this morning in the great yard that 
belongs to my friend's country house, I was wonder- 
fully pleased to see the different workings of instinct in 
a hen followed by a brood of ducks. The young, upon 
the sight of a pond, immediately ran into it ; while the 
stepmother, with all imaginable anxiety, hovered about 
the borders of it, to call them out of an element that 
appeared to her so dangerous and destructive. As the 
different principle which acted in these different animals 
cannot be termed reason,, so when we call it instinct, 
we mean something we have no knowledge of. To 
me, as I hinted in my last paper, it seems the immediate 
direction of Providence, and such an operation of the 
Supreme Being, as that which determines all the por- 
tions of matter to their proper centers. A modern 

1. <* All things are full of Jove." Explain and state the applica- 
tion. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 115 

philosopher, 2 quoted by Monsieur Bayle^^ in his learned 
''Dissertation on the Souls of Brutes," delivers the same 
opinion, though in a bolder form of words, where he 
says, Deus est aniTna brutorum^ ''God himself is the 
soul of brutes." Who can tell what to call that seem- 
ing sagacity in animals, which directs them to such 
food as is proper for them, and makes them naturally 
avoid whatever is noxious or unwholesome? Dampier,'^ 
in his " Travels," tells us, that when seamen are throw^n 
upon any of the unknown coasts of America,^ they 
never venture upon the fruit of any tree, how tempting 
soever it may appear, unless they observe that it is 
marked with the pecking of birds ; but fall on without 
any fear or apprehension where the birds have been be- 
fore them. 

But notwithstanding animals have nothing like the 
use of reason, we find in them all the lower parts of 
our nature, the passions and senses in their greatest 
strength and perfection. And here it is worth our 
observation, that all beasts and birds of prey are won- 
derfully subject to anger, malice, revenge, and all the 
other violent passions that may animate them in search 
of their proper food; as those that are incapable of 
defending themselves, or annoying others, or whose 
safety lies chiefly in their flight, are suspicious, fearful 



2. Rene Descartes. 

3. Pierre Bayle, a French philosophical writer. The dissertation 
mentioned was published in 1682. 

4 William Dampier, a famous English navigator. His "Travels" 
wero published 1697-1699. 

5. Dampier is speaking of tropical South America. 



116 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

and apprehensive of everything they see or hear ; whilst 
others that are of assistance and use to man, have their 
natures softened with something mild and tractable, and 
by that means are qualified for a domestic life. In this 
case the passions generally correspond w^ith the make 
of the body. We do not find the fury of a lion in so 
w^eak and defenseless an animal as a lamb, nor the 
meekness of a lamb in a creature so armed for battle 
and assault as the lion. In the same manner, we find 
that particular animals have a more or less exquisite 
sharpness and sagacity in those particular senses which 
most turn to their advantage, and in which their safety 
and welfare is the most concerned. 

Nor must we here omit that great variety of arms 
with which Nature has. differently fortified the bodies, 
of several kind of animals, such as claws, hoofs, and 
horns, teeth, and tusks, a tail, a sting, a trunk, or a 
proboscis. It is likewise observed by naturalists, that 
it must be some hidden principle distinct from what we 
call reason, which instructs animals in the use of these 
their arms, and teaches them to manage them to the 
best advantage ; because they naturally defend them- 
selves with that part in which their strength lies, before 
the weapon be formed in it ; as is remarkable in lambs, 
which though they are bred within doors, and never 
saw the actions of their own species, push at those who 
approach them with their foreheads, before the first 
budding of a horn appears. 

I shall add to these general observations, an instance 
which Mr. Locke has given us of Providence even in 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 117 

the imperfections of a creature which seems the meanest 
and most despicable in the whole animal world. '' We 
may," says he, " from the make of an oyster, or cockle, 
conclude, that it has not so many nor so quick senses 
as a man, or several other animals : nor if it had, would 
it, in that state and incapacity of transferring itself from 
one place to another, be bettered by them. What good 
would sight and hearing do to a creature, that cannot 
move itself to, or from the object, wherein at a distance 
it perceives good or evil ? And would not quickness of 
sensation be an inconvenience to an animal, that must 
be still where chance has once placed it ; and there 
receive the afflux of colder or warmer, clean or foul 
water, as it happens to come to it ? " ^ 

I shall add to this instance out of Mr. Locke"^ another 
out of the learned Dr. More,^ who cites it from Cardan, ^ 
in relation to another animal which Providence has left 
defective, but at the same time has shown its wisdom 
in the formation of that organ in which it seems chiefly 
to have failed. "What is more obvious and ordinary 
than a mole ? and yet what more palpable argument of 
Providence than she? The members of her body are 
so exactly fitted to her nature and manner of life : for 
her dwelling being under ground where nothing is to be 
seen, Nature has so obscurely fitted her with eyes, that 

6. Point out the conspicuous literary excellences of paragraphs 2 
and 3. 

7. A quotation from Locke's " Essay on the Human Understanding." 

8. An English philosophical writer. From his ** Antidote against 
Atheism." 

9. Girolamo Cardano, a famous Italian physician and philosopher 
of the 16th century. 



118 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

naturalists can hardly agree whether she have any sight 
at all or no. But for amends, what she is capable of 
for her defense and warning of danger, she has very 
eminently conferred upon her ; for she is exceeding 
quick of hearing. And then her short tail and short 
legs, but broad fore feet armed with sharp claws, we 
see by the event to what purpose they are, she so swiftly 
working herself under ground, and making her way so 
fast in the earth as they that behold it cannot but admire 
it. Her legs therefore are short, that she need dig no 
more than will serve the mere thickness of her body ; and 
her fore feet are broad that she may scoop away much 
earth at a time ; and little or no tail she has, because 
she courses it not on the ground, like the rat or mouse, 
of whose kindred she is, but lives under the earth, and 
is fain to dig herself a dwelling there. And she mak- 
ing her way through so thick an element, which will 
not yield easily, as the air or the water, it had been 
dangerous to have drawn so long a train behind her ; 
for her enemy might fall upon her rear, and fetch her 
out, before she had completed or got full possession of 
her works." 

I cannot forbear mentioning Mr. Boyle's^^ remark 
upon this last creature, who I remember somewhere in 
his works observes, that though the mole be not totally 
blind (as it is commonly thought) she has not sight 
enough to distinguish particular objects. Her eye is 

10. From the " Disquisition about tlie Final Causes of Natural 
Things," written by Robert Boyle, an Irish chemist and natural 
philosopher. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 119 

said to have but one humor in it, which is supposed to 
give her the idea of light, but of nothing else, and is so 
formed that this idea is probably painful to the animal. 
Whenever she comes up into broad day she might be 
in danger of being taken, unless she were thus affected 
by a light striking upon her eye, and immediately warn- 
ing her to bury herself in her proper element. More 
sight would be useless to her, as none at all might be 
fatal. 1^ 

I have only instanced such animals as seem the most 
imperfect works of nature ; and if Providence shows 
itself even in the blemishes of these creatures, how 
much more does it discover itself in the several endov^- 
ments which it has variously bestowed upon such 
creatures as are more or less finished and completed in 
their several faculties, according to the condition of life 
in which they are posted. 

I could wish our Royal Society^^ would compile a 
body of natural history, the best that could be gathered 
together from books and observations. If the several 
writers among them took each his particular species, 
and gave us a distinct account of its original, birth and 
education ; its policies, hostilities and alliances, with 
the frame and texture of its inward and outward parts, 
and particularly those that distinguish it from all other 
animals, with their peculiar aptitudes for the state of 

11. Reproduce the argument of tile paragraphs about the 
mole. 

12. "The Royal Society of London for improving Natural Knowl- 
edge," Uio famous British association of scientists, incorporated in 
1662. 



120 SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 

being in which Providence has placed them, it would 
be one of the best services their studies could do man- 
kind, and not a little redound to the glory of the all- 
wise Contriver. 

It is true, such a natural history, after all the dis- 
quisitions of the learned, would be infinitely short and 
defective. Seas and deserts hide millions of animals 
from our observation. Innumerable artifices and strata- 
gems are acted in the '' how^ling wilderness" and in the 
^' great deep," that can never come to our knowledge. 
Besides that there are infinitely more species of creatures 
which are not to be seen without, nor indeed with the 
help of the finest glasses, than of such as are bulky 
enough for the naked eye to take hold of. However 
from the consideration of such animals as lie within the 
compass of our knowledge, ^ve might easily form a 
conclusion of the rest, that the same variety of wisdom 
and goodness runs through the whole creation, and puts 
every creature in a condition to provide for its safety 
and subsistence in its proper station. 

Tullyi^ has given us an admirable sketch of natural 
history, in his second book concerning the nature of the 
gods ; and then in a style so raised by metaphors and 
descriptions, that it lifts the subject above raillery and 
ridicule, which frequently fall on such nice observations 
when they pass through the hands of an ordinary 
writer. 

L. 

13. Marcus Tullius Cicero. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 121 

XIX 

SIR ROGER AND HIS NEIGHBORS 

The Attitude of his Neighbors 
TOWARD Sir Roger 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No, 122, July 20, 1711) 

Introductory Note. In this Paper, Mr. Spectator cites further 
instances of the practical philosophy of Sir Roger de Coverley, 
and gives an interesting account of the proceedings in an English 
law court. 

" Comes jucundus hi via pro vehiculo est.^^ ^ 

PuBLius Syrus, Fragmenta. 

A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches 
of his own heart ; his next, to escape the censures of 
the world : if the latter interferes with the former, it 
ought to be entirely neglected ; but otherwise, there can- 
not be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind, than to 
see those approbations which it gives itself seconded by 
the applauses of the public : a man is more sure of his 
conduct, when the verdict which he passes upon his own 
behavior is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion 
of all that know him. 

My worthy friend Sir Roger is one of those who is 
not only at peace within himself, but beloved and es- 
teemed by all about him. He receives a suitable tribute 
for his universal benevolence to mankind in the returns 
of affection and good will, which are paid him by every 

1. •• A pleasant companion on the road is as good as a coach." 



122 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

one that lives within his neighborhood. I lately met 
with two or three odd instances of that general respect 
which is shown to the good old knight. He would 
needs carry Will Wimble and myself with him to the 
county assizes ;^ as we were upon the road Will Wimble 
joined a couple of plain men who rid before us, and 
conversed with them for some time ; during which my 
friend Sir Roger acquainted me with their characters. 

" The first of them," says he, '' that has a spaniel by 
his side, is a yeoman^ of about a hundred pounds a year, 
an honest man : he is just within the Game Act,^ and 
qualified to kill a hare or a pheasant : he knocks down^ 
a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a week ; and by 
that means lives much cheaper than those who have not 
so good an estate as himself. He would be a good 
neighbor if he did not destroy so many partridges : in 
short, he is a very sensible man ; shoots flying;^ and has 
been several times foreman of the petty jury."^ 

" The other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, 
a fellow famous for ' taking the law ' of everybody. 
There is not one in the town where he lives that he has 
not sued at a quarter-sessions. The rogue had once the 



2. The periodical session of the Superior Court of Justice. 

3. A small landowner. 

4. The object of the game laws was to prevent the killing of game 
for food, in order that it might be preserved for sport; consequently 
men of very small incomes were not allowed to keep guns. 

5. He could legally do so only on his own hind, but, as he could not 
be prosecuted for keeping a gun, his hunting range was likely to be 
wider than his own fields. 

6. As sportsmen do. 

7. Usually called in America, " traverse " or •' trial jury.'* 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 123 

impudence to go to law with the widow. His head is 
full of costs, damages, and ejectments : he plagued a 
couple of honest gentlemen so long for a trespass in 
breaking one of his hedges, till he was forced to sell the 
ground it enclosed to defray the charges of the prosecu- 
tion ; his father left him fourscore pounds a year ; but 
he has cast^ and been cast so often, that he is not now 
worth thirty. I suppose he is going upon the old busi- 
ness of the Willow Tree. "9 

As Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom 
Touchy, Will Wimble and his two companions stopped 
short till Ave came up to them. After having paid their 
respects to Sir Roger, Will told him that Mr. Touchy 
and he must appeal to him upon a dispute that arose 
between them. Will it seems had been giving his fel- 
low-traveler an account of his angling one day in such a 
hole ; when Tom Touchy, instead of hearing out his 
story, told him that Mr. Such-a-one, if he pleased, 
might "take the law of him" for fishing in that part of 
the river. My friend Sir Roger heard them both, upon 
a round trot ; and after having paused some time told 
them, with the air of a man who would not give his 
judgment rashly, that much might be said on both sides. 
They were neither of them dissatisfied with the knight's 
determination, because neither of them found himself in 
the wrong by it : upon which we made the best of our 
way to the assizes. 

The court was sat before Sir Roger came ; but not- 

8. Defeated at law. 

9. Some old lawsuit. 



124 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

withstanding all the justices^^ had taken their places 
upon the bench, they made room for the old knight at 
the head of them ; who for his reputation in the country 
took occasion to whisper in the judge's ear, that he was 
glad his lordship had met with so much good weather 
in his circuit. I was listening to the proceeding of the 
court w4th much attention, and infinitely pleased with 
that great appearance and solemnity which so properly 
accompanies such a public administration of our laws ; 
when, after about an hour's sitting, I observed to my 
great surprise, in the midst of a trial, that my friend 
Sir Roger was getting up to speak. I was in some pain 
for him, till I found he had acquitted himself of two 
or three sentences, with a look of much business and 
great intrepidity. 

Upon his first rising the court was hushed, and a gen- 
eral whisper ran among the country people that Sir 
Roger " was up." The speech he made was so little to 
the purpose, that I shall not trouble my readers with an 
account of it ; and I believe was not so much designed 
by the knight himself to inform the court, as to give him 
a figure in my eye, and keep up his credit in the country. 

I was highly delighted, when the court rose, to see 
the gentlemen of the country gathering about my old 
friend, and striving who should compliment him most ; 
at the same time that the ordinary people gazed upon 



10. Justices of the Peace, of whom Sir lloger was one. They were 
entitled to sit on the bench beside the judge, who hud been sent down 
from London to hold the Court, and they were sometimes called upon 
to enlighten the judge in cases involving local conditions. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEV 125 

him at a distance, not a little admiring his courage, that 
was not afraid to speak to the judge. 

In our return home we met watli a very odd accident ; 
which I cannot forbear relating, because it shows how 
desirous all who know Sir Roger are of giving him 
marks of their esteem. When we were arrived upon 
the verge of his estate, we stopped at a little inn to rest 
ourselves and our horses. The man of the house had 
it seems been formerly a servant in the knight's family ; 
and to do honor to his old master had some time since, 
unknown to Sir Roger, put him up in a sign-post before 
the door ; so that the knight's head had hung out upon 
the road about a week before he himself knew anything 
of the matter. As soon as Sir Roger w^as acquainted 
with it, finding that his servant's indiscretion proceeded 
wholly from affection and good w^ill, he only told him 
that he had made him too high a compliment ; and when 
the fellow seemed to think that could hardly be, added 
with a more decisive look, that it was too great an honor 
for any man under a duke ; but told him at the same 
time, that it might be altered with a very few touches, 
and that he himself- would be at the charo:e of it. Ac- 
cordingly they got a painter by the knight's directions 
to add a pair of whiskers to the face, and by a little 
aggravation to the features to change it into the Sara- 
cen's head. 1 should not have known this story had not 
the innkeeper, upon Sir Roger's alighting, told him in 
my hearing, that his honor's head was brought back last 
night with the alterations that he had ordered to be made 
in it. Upon this my friend with his usual cheerfulness 



126 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

related the particulars above mentioned, and ordered the 
head to be brought into the room. I could not forbear 
discovering greater expressions of mirth than ordinary 
upon the appearance of this monstrous face, under 
which, notwithstanding it was made to frown and stare 
in a most extraordinary manner, I could still discover a 
distant resemblance of my old friend. Sir Roger, upon 
seeing me laugh, desired me to tell him truly if I thought 
it possible for people to know him in that disguise. I 
at first kept my usual silence; but upon the knight's 
conjuring me to tell him whether it was not still more 
like himself than a Saracen, I composed my countenance 
in the best manner I could, and replied, that much might 
be said on both sides. ^^ 

These several adventures, with the knight's behavior 
in them, gave me as pleasant a day as ever I met with 
in any of my travels. L. 



11. Comment on the literary excellence of this paragraph. £1111- 
merate all the different elements Tcliicli enter into the nar- 
ration of the anecdote. Comment on the vividness of the 
picture. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 127 



XX 

THE STORY OF FLORIO AND 
LEONTILLA 

''Mr. Spectator's " Views on the Value of 
Education 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 123, July 21, 1711) 

Introductory Note. The theme of Paper No. 123 is the value 
of a definite, practical object in the education of youth. 

^'' Doctrina sed vitn fromovet tnsttam, 
Rectique ctcltus pectora rohorant : 
Utcunque defecere mores ^ 
Dedecorant be?ie nata culpce.''^^ 

Horace, Lib. IV., Ode iv. 33. 

As I was yesterday taking the air with my friend Sir 
Roger, we were met by a fresh-colored ruddy young 
man, who rid by us full speed, with a couple of servants 
behind him. Upon my inquiry who he was. Sir Roger 
told me that he was a young gentleman of a considerable 
estate, who had been educated by a tender mother that 
lives not many miles from the place where \ve were. 
She is a very good lady, says my friend, but took so 
much care of her son's health, that she has made him 
good for nothing. She quickly found that reading was 
bad for his eyes, and that writing made his head ache. 

1. From Horace's Ode in Praise of Drusus. •* Learning quickens 
native strength and true culture nerves the lieart; but as soon as 
manners degenerate, vices degrade the noblest born." 



1-28 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

He was let loose among the woods as soon as he was 
able to ride on horseback, or to carry a gun upon, his 
shoulder. To be brief, I found, by my friend's account 
of him, that he had got a great stock of health, but 
nothing else ; and that if it were a man's business only 
to live, there would not be a more accomplished young 
fellow in the w^iole country. 

The truth of it is, since my residing in these parts I 
have seen and heard innumerable instances of young 
heirs and elder brothers, who either from their own re- 
flecting upon the estates they are born to, and therefore 
thinking all other accomplishments unnecessary, or from 
hearing these notions frequently inculcated to them by 
the flattery of their servants and domestics, or from the 
same foolish thought prevailing in those who have the 
care of their education, are of no manner of use but to 
keep up their families, and transmit their lands and 
houses in a line to posterity. 

This makes me often think on a story I have heard of 
two friends, which I shall give my reader at large, under 
feigned names. The moral of it may, I hope, be useful, 
though there are some circumstances which make it 
rather appear like a novel, than a true stor} 

Eudoxus and Leontine"^ began the world with small 
estates. They were both of them men of good sense 
and great virtue. They prosecuted their studies to- 
gether in their earlier years, and entered into such a 
friendship as lasted to the end of their lives. Eudoxus, 

2. Eudoxus signifies by its derivation "well-taught"; Leontine, 
" brave." 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 129 

at his first setting out in the world, threw himself into 
a court, where by his natural endowments and his 
acquired abilities he made his way from one post to 
another, till at length he had raised a very considerable 
fortune. Leontine on the contrary sought all oppor- 
tunities of improving his mind by study, conversation, 
and travel. He was not only acquainted with all the 
sciences, but with the most eminent professors of them 
throughout Europe. He knew perfectly well the inter- 
ests of its princes, with the customs and fashions of 
their courts, and could scarce meet w^ith the name of 
an extraordinary person in the ''Gazette" whom he 
had not either talked to or seen. In short, he had so 
well mixed and digested his knowledge of men and 
books that he made one of the most accomplished per- 
sons of his age. During the whole course of his studies 
and travels he kept up a punctual correspondence with 
Eudoxus, w^ho often made himself acceptable to the 
principal men about court by the intelligence which he 
received from Leontine. When they were both turned 
of forty (an age in which, according to Mr. Cowley, 
"there is no dallying with life")-'^ they determined, 
pursuant to the resolution they had taken in the begin- 
ning of their lives, to retire, and pass the remainder 
of their days in the country. In order to tliis,^ they 
both of them married much about the same time. 
Leontine, with his own and his wife's fortune, bought 



3. Mr. Cowley says in his " Essay on Procrastination " : '• But there 
is no fooling with life wlien it has once turned forty." 

4. How would ^fve express this tliouglitl 



130 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

a farm of three hundred a year, which lay within the 
neighborhood of his friend Eudoxus, who had pur- 
chased an estate of as many thousands. They were 
both of them fathers about the same time, Eudoxus 
having a son born to him, and Leontine a daughter ; 
but to the unspeakable grief of the latter, his young 
wife (in whom all his happiness was wrapped up) 
died in a few days after the birth of her daughter. 
His affliction would have been insupportable, had not 
he been comforted by the daily visits and consolations 
of his friend. As they were one day talking together 
with their usual intimacy, Leontine, considering how 
incapable he was of giving his daughter a proper edu- 
cation in his own house, and Eudoxus reflecting on the 
ordinary behavior of a son who knows himself to be 
the heir of a great estate, they both agreed upon an 
exchange of children, namely that the boy should be 
bred up vs^ith Leontine as his son, and that the girl 
should live with Eudoxus as his daughter, till they were 
each of them arrived at years of discretion. The wife 
of Eudoxus, knowing that her son could not be so 
advantageously brought up as under the care of Leon- 
tine, and considering at the same time that he would be 
perpetually under her own eye, was by degrees pre- 
vailed upon to fall in with the project. She therefore 
took Leonilla, for that was the name of the girl, and 
educated her as her own daughter. The two friends on 
each side had wrought themselves to such an habitual 
tenderness for the children who were under their direc- 
tion, that each of them had the real passion of a father 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 131 

where the title was but imaginary. Florio, the name 
of the young heir that lived with Leontine, though he 
had all the duty and affection imaginable for his sup- 
posed parent, was taught to rejoice at the sight of 
Eudoxus, who visited his friend very frequently, and 
was dictated by his natural affection, as well as by the 
rules of prudence, to make himself esteemed and be- 
loved by Florio. The boy was now old. enough to 
know his supposed father's circumstances, and that 
therefore he was to make his way in the world by his 
own industry. This consideration grew stronger in 
him every day, and produced so good an effect, that 
he applied himself with more than ordinary attention to 
the pursuit of everything which Leontine recommended 
to him. His natural abilities, which were very good, 
assisted by the directions of so excellent a counselor, 
enabled him to make a quicker progress than ordinary 
through all the parts of his education. Before he was 
twenty years of age, having finished his studies and 
exercises with great applause, he was removed from 
the university to the inns of court, where there are 
\'ery few that make themselves considerable proficients 
in the studies of the place, who know they shall arrive 
at great estates without them. This was not Florio's 
case ; he found that three hundred a year was but a 
poor estate for Leontine and himself to live upon, so 
that he studied without intermission till he gained a 
very good insight into the constitution and laws of his 
country. 

I should have told my reader, that whilst Florio lived 



132 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

at the house of his foster father, he was always an 
acceptable guest in the family of Eudoxus, where he 
became acquainted with Leonilla from her infancy. 
His acquaintance with her by degrees grew into love, 
which in a mind trained up in all the sentiments of 
honor and virtue became a very uneasy passion. He 
despaired of gaining an heiress of so great a fortune, 
and would rather have died than attempted it by any 
indirect methods. Leonilla, who v^as a woman of the 
greatest beauty joined with the greatest modesty, enter- 
tained at the same time a secret passion for Florio, but 
conducted herself with so much prudence that she never 
gave him the least intimation of it. Florio was now 
engaged in all those arts and improvements that are 
proper to raise a man's private fortune, and give him a 
tigure in his country, but secretly tormented \vith that 
passion which burns with the greatest fury in a virtuous 
and noble heart, when he received a sudden summons 
from Leontine, to repair to him into the country the 
next day. For it seems Eudoxus was so filled w4th the 
report of his son's reputation, that he could no longer 
withhold making himself known to him. The morning 
after his arrival at the house of his supposed father, 
Leontine told him that Eudoxus had something of great 
importance to communicate to him ; upon which the 
good man embraced him, and wept. Florio was no 
sooner arrived at the great house that stood in his neigh- 
borhood, but Eudoxus took him by the hand, after the 
first salutes were over, and conducted him into his closet. 
He there opened to him the whole secret of his paren- 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 133 

tage and education, concluding after this manner: ''I 
have no other way left of acknowledging my gratitude 
to Leontine, than by marrying you to his daughter. He 
shall not lose the pleasure of being your father by the 
discovery I have made to you. Leonilla too shall be 
still my daughter; her filial piety, though misplaced, 
has been so exemplary that it deserves the greatest 
reward I can confer upon it. You shall have the pleas- 
ure of seeing a great estate fall to you, which you would 
have lost the relish of had you known yourself born to 
it. Continue only to deserve it in the same manner you 
did before you were possessed of it. I have left your 
mother in the next room. Her heart yearns towards 
you. She is making the same discoveries to Leonilla 
which I have made to yourself." Florio was so over- 
whelmed with this profusion of happiness, that he was 
not able to make a reply, but threw himself down at his 
father's feet, and amidst a flood of tears, kissed and em- 
braced his knees, asking his blessing, and expressing in 
dumb show those sentiments of love, duty, and gratitude 
that were too big for utterance. To conclude, the happy 
pair were married, and half Eudoxus's estate settled 
upon them. Leontine and Eudoxus passed the remainder 
of their lives together ; and received in the dutiful and 
affectionate behavior of Florio and Leonilla the just 
recompense, as well as the natural effects of that care 
which they had bestowed upon them in their education. 

L. 

f^uggestion.— Make a careful outline of the story of Florio and 
Let^nilla. WiUi the aid of the outline write out the story. Compare 
your manner of relating the ytory with that of Addison. 



184 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



XXI 

SIR ROGER DEPLORES THE EXISTENCE 
OF PARTY SPIRIT 

(Addison, in Spectator, No. 125, July 24, 1711) 

l7iiroductory Note. This Paper embodies Mr. Spectator's 
views on the evils of factional politics. 

" Nepueri^ ne tanta anhnis assuescite bella: 
jVeu patrice valtdas in viscera vertite vires. ''^ ^ 

Virgil, yEneid, Lib. VI. 832. 

My worthy friend Sir Roger, when we are talking of 
the malice of parties, very frequently tells us an accident 
that happened to him when he was a schoolboy, which 
was at a time when the feuds ran high between the 
Roundheads and Cavaliers.^ This worthy knight, being 
then but a stripling, had occasion to inquire which was 
the way to St. Anne's Lane, upon which the person 
whom he spoke to, instead of answering his question, 
called him a young popish cur, and asked him who had 
made Anne a saint .^^ The boy, being in some confusion, 
inquired of the next he met, which was the way to 
Anne's Lane ; but was called a prick-eared^ cur for his 

1. " Do not, do not, ray chUdren, make wars like these familiar to 
your spirits; tarn not your country's valor against your country's 
vitals." 

2. The supporters, respectively, of the parliament and of the king, 
in the political struggles which preceded the Civil War. 

3. Most of the supporters of parliament were zealous Puritans, 
who refused to use the title •' saint," as having no Scriptural warrant. 

4. The ears were conspicuous with the closely cropped hair which 
the parliament men affected. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 135 

pains, and instead of being shown the way, was told 
that she had been a saint before he was born, and would 
be one after he was hanged. ''Upon this," says Sir 
Roger, ' ' I did not think fit to repeat the former ques- 
tion, but going into every lane of the neighborhood, 
asked what they called the name of that lane." By 
which ingenious artifice he found out the place he in- 
quired after, without giving offense to any party. Sir 
Roger generally closes this narrative with reflections on 
the mischief that parties do in the country ; how they 
spoil good neighborhood, and make honest gentlemen 
hate one another ; besides that they manifestly tend to 
the prejudice of the land-tax, and the destruction of 
the game.^ 

There cannot a greater judgment befall a country than 
such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a govern- 
ment into two distinct people, and makes them greater 
strangers and more averse to one another, than if they 
were actually two different nations. The effects of 
such a division are pernicious to the last degree, not 
only with regard to those advantages which they give 
the common enemy, but to those private evils which 
they produce in the heart of almost every particular 
person. This influence is very fatal both to men's 
morals and their understandings ; it sinks the virtue of 
a nation, and not only so, but destroys even common 
sense. 

5. The two things in which country gentlemen were most inter- 
ested. Sir Roger could conceive of nothing affecting the general 
welfare which would not affect these interests. How inucli does 
this contribute to the character sketch of Sir Rogerl 



136 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

A furious party spirit, when it rages in its full 
violence, exerts itself in civil war and bloodshed : and 
when it is under its greatest restraints naturally breaks 
out in falsehood, detraction, calumny, and a partial ad- 
ministration of justice. In a word, it fills a nation 
with spleen and rancor, and extinguishes all the seeds of 
good nature, compassion and humanity. 

Plutarch'^ says very finely, that a man should not allow 
himself to hate even his enemies, *• because," says he, 
''if you indulge this passion in some occasions, it will 
rise of itself in others ; if you hate your enemies, you 
will contract such a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees 
Avill break out upon those who are your friends, or 
those who are indifferent to you." I might here observe 
how admirably this precept of morality (which derives 
the malignity of hatred from the passion itself, and not 
from its object) answers to that great rule"- which was 
dictated to the w^orld about a hundred years before this 
philosopher wrote ; but instead of that, I shall only take 
notice, with a real grief of heart, that the minds of 
many good men among us appear soured with party 
principles, and alienated from one another in such a 
manner, as seems to me altogether inconsistent with the 
dictates either of reason or religion. Zeal for a public 
cause is apt to breed passions in the hearts of virtuous 
persons, to which the regard of their own private interest 
would never have betrayed them. 

If this party spirit has so ill an effect on our morals, 

6. A Greek philosopher and historian of the 2(1 century A. D. 

7. Luke vi. 27. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 137 

it has likewise a very great one upon our judgments. We 
often hear a poor insipid paper or pamphlet cried up, 
and sometimes a noble piece depreciated, by those who 
are of a different principle from the author. One who 
is actuated by this spirit is almost under an incapacity of 
discerning either real blemishes or beauties. A man of 
merit in a different principle, is like an object seen in 
^two different mediums, that appears crooked or broken, 
however straight and entire it maybe in itself. For this 
reason there is scarce a person of any figure^ in 
England, who does not go by two contrary characters, 
as opposite to one another as light and darkness. 
Knowledge and learning suffer in a particular manner 
from this strange prejudice, which at present prevails 
amongst all ranks and degrees in the British nation. 
As men formerly became eminent in learned societies 
by their parts and acquisitions, they now distinguish 
themselves by the warmth and violence with w^hich they 
espouse their respective parties. Books are valued upon 
the like considerations : an abusive scurrilous style passes 
for satire, and a dull scheme of party notions is called 
fine writing. 

There is one piece of sophistry practiced by both 
sides, and that is the taking any scandalous story that 
has been ever whispered or invented of a private man, 
for a known undoubted truth, and raising suitable spec- 
ulations upon it. Calumnies that have been never _ 
proved, or have been often refuted, are the ordinary 
postulatums of these infamous scribblers, upon which 

8. Change to the American idiom. 



138 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

they proceed as upon first principles granted by all men, 
though in their hearts they know they are false, or at 
best very doubtful. When they have laid these foun- 
dations of scurrility, it is no wonder that their super- 
structure is every ^vay answerable to them. If this 
shameless practice of the present age endures much 
longer, praise and reproach will cease to be motives of 
action in good men. 

There are certain periods of time in all governments 
when this inhuman spirit prevails. Italy was long torn 
in pieces by the Guelphs and Ghibellines,^ and France 
by those who wxre for and against the League :^^ but it 
is very unhappy for a man to be born in such a stormy 
and tempestuous season. It is the restless ambition of 
artful men that thus breaks a people into factions, and 
draws se\'eral well-meaning persons to their interest by 
a specious concern for their country. How many 
honest minds are filled with uncharitable and barbarous 
notions, out of their zeal for the public good? What 
cruelties and outrages would they not commit against 
men of an adverse party, ^vhom they would honor and 
esteem, if instead of considering them as they are repre- 
sented, they knew them as they are ? Thus are persons 
of the greatest probity seduced into shameful errors and 
prejudices, and made bad men even by that noblest of 

9. Tho city republics of Italy were torn by these two factions from 
the miclcUe of the 12th to the end of the loth century. Generally 
speaking, the Guelphs were the popular party, the Ghibellines, the 
aristocratic party. 

10. The Holy League, formed in 1576, with the object of preventing 
the throne of France from passing to the princes of the House of 
Navarre. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 139 

principles, the love of their country. I cannot here 
forbear mentioning the famous Spanish proverb, ''If 
there vs^ere neither fools nor knaves in the world, all 
people would be of one mind." 

For my own part, I could heartily wish that all 
honest men would enter into an association, for the 
support of one another against the endeavors of those 
whom they ought to look upon as their common enemies, 
whatsoever side they may belong to. Were there such 
an honest body of neutral forces, vs^e should never see 
the worst of men in great figures of life, because they 
are useful to a party; nor th^ best unregarded, because 
they are above practicing those methods which would 
be grateful to their faction. We should then single 
every criminal out of the herd, and hunt him down, 
however formidable and overgrown he might appear : 
on the contrary, w^e should shelter distressed innocence, 
and defend virtue, however beset with contempt or 
ridicule, envy or defamation. In short, we should not 
any longer regard our fellow-subjects as Whigs or 
Tories, but should make the man of merit cur friend, 
and the villain our enemy. C. 

SwgS«stloii.— Show by a careful study of this essay and by ex- 
tended illustration that these reflections are applicable to tlie ques- 
tion of "Party Spirit" in America to-day. In this connection read 
Washington's "Farewell Address." 



140 SIR ROGER DE COVERLET 

XXII 

SIR ROGER'S POLITICS 

"Mr. Spectator's" Appeal For Moderation in 
Party Spirit 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 126, July 25, 1711) 

*' Tros Rutulusve fuat^ 7iullo discrimiiie habeboy^ 

Virgil, ^Eneid, Lib. X. 108. 

In my yesterday's papei^ I proposed, that the honest 
men of all parties should enter into a kind of associa- 
tion for the defense of one another, and the confusion 
of their common enemies. As it is designed this neutral 
body should act with a regard to nothing but truth and 
equity, and divest themselves of the little heats and prepos- 
sessions that cleave to parties of all kinds, I have pre- 
pared for them the follovs^ing form of an association, 
which inay express their intentions in the most plain 
and simple manner. 

" We whose names'^ are hereunto subscribed do solemnly de- 
clare, that we do in our consciences believe two and two make 
four ; and that we shall adjudge any man whatsoever to be our 
enemy who endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We are 
likewise ready to maintain, with the hazard of all that is near 
and dear to us, that six is less than seven in all times and all 
places ; and that ten will not be more three years hence than it 
is at present. We do also firmly declare, that it is our resolu- 

1. ** Trojan or Rutulian, I will show favor to neither." 

2. This is a burlesque of the ad Presses, appeals, and declarations 
promulgated by the political parties of the day. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 141 

tion as long as we live to call black black, and white white. 
And we shall upon all occasions oppose such persons that upon 
any day of the year shall call black white, or white black, with 
the utmost peril of our lives and fortunes." 

Were there such a combination of honest men, who 
without any regard to places would endeavor to extir- 
pate all such furious zealots as would sacrifice one half 
of their country to the passion and interest of the other ; 
as also such infamous hypocrites, that are for promoting 
their own advantage, under color of the public good ; 
with all the profligate, immoral retainers to each side, 
that have nothing to recommend them but an implicit 
submission to their leaders; we should soon see that 
furious party spirit extinguished, which may in time 
expose us to the derision and contempt of all the nations 
about us.*^ 

A member of this society, that would thus carefully 
employ himself in making room for merit, by throwing 
down the worthless and depraved part of mankind from 
those conspicuous stations of life to which they have 
been sometimes advanced, and all this without any re- 
gard to his private interest, would be no small benefactor 
to his country. 

I remember to have read in Diodorus Siculus^ an ac- 
count of a very active little animal, which I think he 
calls the ichneumon,^ that makes it the whole business 
of his life to break the eggs of the crocodile, which he 

3. England was, at this time, the only nation of importance in the 
world not governed despotically. 

4. A Greek historian who lived at the beginning of the Christian 
era. 

5. A small carnivorous animal common in Egypt. 



142 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

is always in search after. This instinct is the more re- 
markable, because the ichneumon never feeds upon the 
eggs he has broken, nor in any other way finds his ac- 
count in them. Were it not for the incessant labors of 
this industrious animal, Egypt, says the historian, would 
be overrun with crocodiles ; for the Egyptians are so far 
from destroying those pernicious creatures, that they 
worship them as gods.^ 

If we look into the behavior of ordinary partisans, we 
shall find them far from resembling this disinterested 
animal ; and rather acting after the example of the wild 
Tartars,^ who are ambitious of destroying a man of the 
most extraordinary parts and accomplishments, as think- 
ing that upon his decease the same talents, whatever 
post they qualified him for, enter of course into his 
destroyer. 

As in the whole train of my speculations, I have en- 
deavored as much as I am able to extinguish that perni- 
cious spirit of passion and prejudice, which rages with 
the same violence in all parties, I am still the more de- 
sirous of doing some good in this particular, because 1 
observe that the spirit of party reigns more in the coun- 
try than in the town. It here contracts a kind of bru- 
tality and rustic fierceness, to which men of a politer 
conversation are wholly strangers. It extends itself even 
to the return of the bow and the hat ;^ and at the same 
time that the heads of parties preserve towards one an- 

6. State the exact purpose oftliis illustration. 

7. The belief that the successful warrior makes captive the virtues 
of his slain enemy, is common among savage races. 

8. Explain. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEV 143 

other an outward show of good breeding, and keep up a 
perpetual intercourse of civilities, their tools that are dis- 
persed in these outlying parts will not so much as mingle 
together at a cock-match. This humor fills the country 
with several periodical meetings of Whig jockeys and 
Tory fox-hunters ; not to mention the innumerable 
curses, frowns, and whispers it produces at a quarter- 
sessions. 

I do not know whether I have observed in any of my 
former papers, that my friends Sir Roger de Coverley 
and Sir Andrew Freeport are of different principles, the 
first of them inclined to the landed and the other to the 
moneyed interest. This humor is so moderate in each 
of them, that it proceeds no further than to an agree- 
able raillery, which very often diverts the rest of the 
Club. I find however that the knight is a much stronger 
Tory in the country than in town, which, as he has 
told me in my ear, is absolutely necessary for the keep- 
ing-up his interest. In all our journey from London to 
his house we did not so much as bait at a Whig inn ; or 
if by chance the coachman stopped at a wrong place, 
one of Sir Roger's servants would ride up to his master 
full speed, and whisper to him that the master of the 
house was against such a one in the last election. This 
often betrayed us into hard beds and bad cheer ; for we 
were not so inquisitive about the inn as the innkeeper ; 
and, provided our landlord's principles were sound, did 
not take any notice of the staleness of his provisions. 
This I found still the more inconvenient, because the 
better the host was, the worse generally were his ac- 



144 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

commodations ; the fellow knowing very well, that those 
who were his friends would take up with coarse diet 
and a hard lodging. For these reasons, all the while I 
was upon the road I dreaded entering into a house of 
any one that Sir Roger had applauded for an honest 
man. 9 

Since my stay at Sir Roger's in the country, I daily 
find more instances of this narrow party humor. Being 
upon a bowling-green at a neighboring market town the 
other day, (for that is the place where the gentlemen of 
one side meet once a week) I observed a stranger among 
them of a 'better presence and genteeler behavior than 
ordinary ; but was much surprised, that notwithstanding 
he was a very fair better, nobody would take him up. 
But upon inquiry I found, that he was one who had 
given a disagreeable vote in a former Parliament, for 
which reason there was not a man upon that bowling- 
green^^ who would have so much correspondence with 
him as to win his money of him. 

Among other instances of this nature, 1 must not omit 
one which concerns myself. Will Wimble was the other 
day relating several strange stories that he had picked up 
nobody knows where of a certain great man ; and upon 
my staring at him, as one that was surprised to hear such 
things in the country which had never been so much as 

9. Comment on tlie manner in wliicli tliis paragrapli is ^vrit- 
ten. 

10. The game of bowls was played by teams or sides, each player 
rolling a ball in the direction of a ball placed as a mark. The side 
that could place the greatest number of balls within a certain dis- 
tance of this mark won the game. Spectators not playing amused 
themselves by betting on the game. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 145 

whispered in the town, Will stopped short in the thread 
of his discourse, and after dinner asked my friend Sir 
Roger in his ear if he was sure that I was not a fanatic. ^^ 
It gives me a serious concern to see such a spirit of 
dissension in the country ; not only as it destroys virtue 
and common sense, and renders us in a manner barba- 
rians^^ towards one another, but as it perpetuates our 
animosities, widens our breaches, and transmits our 
present passions and prejudices to our posterity. For 
my own part, I am sometimes afraid that I discover the 
seeds of a civil war^^ in these our divisions ; and there- 
fore cannot but bewail, as in their first principles, the 
miseries and calamities of our children. C. 

11. A name applied by the Tories to the extreme Whigs, most of 
whom were zealous Puritans. 

12. This word meant, originally, persons whose language we do not 
understand, and it is used here with some such signification. 

13. It was really feared that tlie deatli of Queen Anne would be fol- 
lowed by a civil war, owing to the determined attitude of the extreme 
Tories in supporting the hereditary right of Prince James, the Queen's 
half brother, who liad been excluded by law from the succession, 
on account of his religion. This danger was averted in England, but 
a large part ofScotland remained in a state of suppressed rebellion for 
a generation. 



146 S/Ji ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XXIII 
SIR ROGER AND THE GYPSIES 

(Addison, in Spectator^ Xo. 130, July 30, 171 1) 

Introductory Note. Gypsies are a nomadic people of Asiatic 
origin who have, for many centuries, wandered, in small bands 
over Em-ope without losing their language or racial character- 
istics. In the Middle Ages gypsies were universally dreaded as 
child stealers, it being supposed that they took malicious pleasure 
in taking children away from comfortable homes to bring them 
up to their own hard life. But, although stories like this of our 
text, were familiar e^'ery where, the idea on which they were 
based was doubtless a popular delusion. The gypsies, however, 
were always incorrigible thieves, and receivers of stolen goods, 
and Avere adepts in various arts of petty trickery. Of these arts, 
fortune telling was the most innocent. In England, the gvpsies 
traveled in covered wagons, which were their only homes, osten- 
sibly making a living as tinkers and veterinary surgeons. The 
word " gypsy" is a corruption of " Egyptian," from the common 
belief that the gypsies were of that race. 

" Semperqiie recentes 
Coiivectare juvat prcedas^ et vii^ere rapto.^^ ^ 

Virgil, ^Eneid, Lib. VII. 74S. 

As I was yesterday riding out in the fields with my 
friend Sir Roger, we saw at a little distance from us a 
troop of gypsies. Upon the first discovery of them, my 
friend was in some doubt whether he should not exert 
the justice of the peace upon such a band of lawless 
vagrants \- but not having his clerk with him, who is a 

1. "It pleases them always to gather fresh plunder and to live by- 
theft. 

2. Vagrancy was a very serious offence under the old English laws. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 147 

I 

necessary counselor on these occasions, and fearing that 
his poultry might fare the worse for it, he let the 
thought drop : but at the same time gave me a par- 
ticular account of the mischiefs they do in the country, 
in stealing people's goods and spoiling their servants. 
''If a stray piece of linen hangs upon a hedge," says 
Sir Roger, "they are sure to have it; if the hog loses 
his v^^ay in the fields, it is ten to one but he becomes 
their prey ; our geese cannot live in peace for them ; 
if a man prosecutes them w^ith severity, his hen-roost is 
sure to pay for it : they generally straggle into these 
parts about this time of the year ; and set the heads of 
our servant-maids so agog for husbands, that w^e do not 
expect to have any business done as it should be whilst 
they are in the country. I have an honest dairy-maid 
who crosses their hands^ with a piece of silver every 
summer, and never fails being promised the handsomest 
young fellow in the parish for her pains. Your friend 
the butler has been fool enough to be seduced by them ; 
and, though he is sure to lose a knife, a fork, or a spoon 
every time his fortune is told him, generally shuts him- 
self up in the pantry with an old gypsy for above half 
an hour once in a twelvemonth- Sweethearts are the 
things they live upon, which they bestow very plenti- 
fully upon all those that apply themselves to them. 
You see now and then some handsome young jades 
among them : the slatterns have very often white teeth 
and black eyes." 

3. According to the cant of the fortune-teller's trade, the prophetic 
inspiration would not come unless this formality was observed. 



148 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



I 



Sir Roger observing that I listened with great atten- 
tion to his 'account of a people who wxre so entirely 
new to me, told me, that if I would they should tell us 
our fortunes. As I was very well pleased with the 
kniglit's proposal, we rid up and communicated our 
hands to them.^ A Cassandra^ of the crew, after hav- 
ing examined my lines very diligently, told me, that I 
loved a pretty maid in a corner, that I w^as a good 
woman's man, with some other particulars wdiich I do 
not think proper to relate. My friend Sir Roger 
alighted from his horse, and exposing his palm to tw^o 
or three that stood by him, they crumpled it into all 
shapes, and diligently scanned every wrinkle that could 
be made in it ; when one of them, who W'as older and 
more sunburnt than the rest, told him, that he had a 
wddow in his line of life : upon which the knight cried, 
''Go, go, you are an idle baggage;" and at the same 
time smiled upon me. The gypsy finding he w^as not 
displeased in his heart, told him, after a further inquiry 
into his hand, that his true-love was constant, and that 
she should dream of him to-night : my old friend cried 
"Pish," and bid her go on. The gypsy told him that 
he was a bachelor, but would not be so long ; and that 
he was dearer to somebody than he thought : the knight 
still repeated, slie was an idle baggage, and bid her go 
on. "Ah master," says the gypsy, "that roguish leer 
of yours makes a pretty woman's heart ache ; you ha'n't 
that simper about the mouth for nothing" — The un- 

4. Paraplirase the sentence. 

5. A prophetess of Greek mythology. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 149 

couth gibberish with which all this was uttered like the 
darkness of an oracle, made us the more attentive to it. 
To be short, the knight left the money with her that he 
had crossed her hand with, and got up again on his 
horse. 

As we were riding away, Sir Roger told me, that he 
knew^ several sensible people who believed these gypsies 
now and then foretold very strange things ; and for half 
an hour together appeared more jocund than ordinary. 
In the height of his good humor, meeting a common 
beggar upon the road who was no conjuror, as he w^ent 
to relieve him he found his pocket was picked : that 
being a kind of palmistry at which this race of vermin 
are very dexterous.^ 

I might here entertain my reader with historical re- 
marks on this idle profligate people, who infest all the 
countries of Europe, and live in the midst of govern- 
ments in a kind of commonwealth by themselves. But 
instead of entering into observations of this nature, I 
shall fill the remaining part of my paper with a story 
which is still fresh in Holland, and was printed in one 
of our monthly accounts about twenty years ago. " As 
the trekschuyt^ or hackney-boat, which carries pas- 
sengers from Leyden to Amsterdam, was putting off, 
a boy running along the side of the canal desired to be 
taken in ; which the master of the boat refused, because 
the lad had not quite money enough to pay the usual 
fare. An eminent merchant being pleased with the 

6. lYhat addition does this episode make to tlie oliaracter 
sketcli of Sir Roger 1 



150 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

looks of the boy, and secretly touched with compassion 
towards him, paid the money for him, and ordered him 
to be taken on board. Upon talking with him after- 
wards, he found that he could speak readily in three or 
four languages, and learned upon further examination 
that he had been stolen away when he was a child by 
a gypsy, and had rambled ever since with a gang of 
those strollers up and down several parts of Europe. 
It happened that the merchant, whose heart seems to 
have inclined towards the boy by a secret kind of 
instinct, had himself lost a child some years before. 
The parents, after a long search for him, gave him up 
for drowned in one of the canals with which that coun- 
try abounds ; and the mother was so afflicted at the loss 
of a fine boy, who was her only son, that she died for 
grief of it. Upon laying together all particulars, and 
examining the several moles and marks by which the 
mother used to describe the child when he was first 
missing, the boy proved to be the son of the merchant 
whose heart had so unaccountably melted at the sight 
of him. The lad was very well pleased to find a father 
who was so rich, and likely to leave him a good estate ; 
the father on the other hand was not a little delighted 
to see a son return to him, whom he had given for lost, 
wath such a strength of constitution, sharpness of under- 
standing, and skill in languages." Here the printed 
story leaves off ; but if I may give credit to reports, 
our linguist having received such extraordinary rudi- 
ments towards a good education, was afterwards trained 
up in everything that becomes a gentleman; wearing 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 151 

off by little and little all the vicious habits and practices 
that he had been used to in the course of his peregrina- 
tions : nay, it is said, that he has since been employed 
in foreign courts upon national business, ^vith great 
reputation to himself and honor to those who sent him, 
and that he has visited several countries as a public 
minister, in which he formerly wandered as a gypsy. 

C 

Suggestion.— Describe the manner in wliicli this essay is written. 



152 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



XXIV 

MR. SPECTATOR LEAVES COVERLEY 
HALL 

(Steele, in Spectator, Xo. 132, August i, 171 1) 

l7itroductory Note. This Paper embodies Mr. Spectator's 
views on tactful firmness as a defense against blustering 
incivility. 

The character of the Recruiting Officer, as sketched by ]Mr. 
Steele, is often met with in the English literature of the iSth 
century. It was the business of these officers to inveigle young 
rustics into the service, under the excitement of martial music 
and military pomp. The work was profitable, and was usually 
undertaken by impecunious young subalterns, who kept a look- 
out for impressionable heiresses, as well as available recruits. 
Recruiting officers were, consequently, unwelcome guests in 
rural England, and often avenged themselves for their unpop- 
ularity by bullying the country gentlemen, who naturally 
avoided, in this duelling age, quarrels with professional 
swordsmen. 

" ^ui aut tempiis quid fostulet 7ion vt'det, aut pliira loquitur^ 
auf se ostentat^ aut eortun quibuscufn est rat{o7ieni 11011 habet,, is 
iiieptus esse dicitur.^^ ^ 

TULLY. 

Having notified to my good friend Sir Roger that I 
should set out for London the next day, his horses were 
ready at the appointed hour in the evening ; and attended 
by one of his grooms, I arrived at the county town at 

1. ** That man may be called impertinent, who considers not the 
circumstances of time, or who engrosses the conversation, or who 
bo8,sts of himself, or who pays no regard to the company he is in.'* 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 153 

twilight, in order to be ready for the stagecoach^ the day 
following. As soon as we arrived at the inn, the ser- 
vant who waited upon me, inquired of the chamber- 
lain^ in my hearing what company he had for the 
coach? The fellow answered, '' Mistress Betty Arable, 
the great fortune, and the widow her mother ; a recruit- 
ing officer (who took a place because they were to go ;) 
young Squire Quickset her cousin (that her mother 
wished her to be married to;) Ephraim the Quaker,^ 
her guardian ; and a gentleman that had studied him- 
self dumb from Sir Roger de Coverley's." I observed 
by what he said of myself, that according to his office 
he dealt much in intelligence ; and doubted not but 
there was some foundation for his reports of the rest of 
the company, as well as for the whimsical account he 
gave of me. The next morning at daybreak we were 
all called ; and I, who know my own natural shyness, 
and endeavor to be as little liable to be disputed with as 
possible, dressed immediately, that I might make no 
one wait. The first preparation for our setting- out was, 
that the captain's half -pike was placed near the coach- 
man, and a drum behind the coach. In the mean time 

2. The English stagecoach was the best public conveyance known 
to the world in the 18th century. It was a heavy closed carriage, 
clumsily mounted on leather springs, and drawn by four or six 
horses, at a speed of three or four miles an hour. It seated six per- 
sons inside, and from two to six outside with the baggage. Under 
the driver's seat was a box, where the mails and especially valuable, 
articles were stowed 

3. The attendant who assigned rooms to the guests. 

4. The members of this sect were distinguished, in all companies 
by their broad rimmed hats and gray coats, by their queer use of 
**thee" and "thou," and by an often offensive parade of their con- 
tempt for prevailing social usages. 



154 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

the drummer, the captain's equipage,^ was very loud, 
that none of the captain's things should be placed so as 
to be spoiled ; upon which his cloak-bag w^as fixed in 
the seat of the coach : and the captain himself, accord- 
ing to a frequent, though invidious behavior of military 
men, ordered his man to look sharp, that none but one 
of the ladies should have the place he had taken front- 
ing to the coach-box. 

We were in some little time fixed in our seats, and 
sat with that dislike which people not too good-natured 
usually conceive of each other at first sight. The coach 
jumbled us insensibly into some sort of familiarity : and 
we had not moved above two miles, when the widow 
asked the captain what success he had in his recruiting? 
The officer, with a frankness he believed very graceful, 
told her, that indeed he had but very little luck, and 
had suffered much by desertion, therefore should be 
glad to end his warfare in the service of her or her fair 
daughter. '' In a word," continued he, " I am a soldier, 
and to be plain is my character : you see me, madam, 
young, sound, and impudent, take me yourself, widow, 
or give me to her, I will be wholly at your disposal. I 
am a soldier of fortune,^ ha ! " This was followed by 
a vain laugh of his own, and a deep silence of all the 
rest of the company. I had nothing left for it but to 
fall fast asleep, which I did with all speed. "Come," 
said he, '' resolve upon it, we will make a wedding at 

5. Attendant, 

6. One who is ready to serve as a soldier wherever profit, honor, 
pleasure, or other advantage is most to be had. 



S/J^ ROGER DE COVERLEV 155 

the next town : we will wake this pleasant companion 
who is fallen asleep, to be the brideman, and " (giving 
the Quaker a clap on the knee) he concluded, " this sly- 
saint, who, rU warrant, understands what's what as 
well as you or I, widow, shall give the bride as father." 
The Quaker, who happened to be a man of smartness, 
answered, "Friend, I take it in good part that thou 
hast given me the authority of a father over this comely 
and virtuous child ; and I must assure thee, that if I 
have the giving her, I shall not bestow her on thee. 
Thy mirth, friend, savoreth of folly : thou art a person 
of a light mind ; thy drum is a type of thee, it soundeth 
because it is empty. Verily, it is not from thy fullness, 
but thy emptiness that thou hast spoken this day. 
Friend, friend, we have hired this coach in partnership 
with thee, to carry us to the great city ; we cannot go 
any other way. This worthy mother must hear thee if 
thou wilt needs utter thy follies ; we cannot help it, 
friend, I say : if thou wilt we must hear thee : but if 
thou wert a man of understanding, thou wouldst not 
take advantage of thy courageous countenance to abash 
us children of peace. Thou art, thou sayest, a soldier; 
give quarter to us, who cannot resist thee. Why didst 
thou fleer at our friend, who feigned himself asleep? 
he said nothing : but how dost thou know what he 
containeth? If thou speakest improper things in the 
hearing of this virtuous young virgin, consider it as an 
outrage against a distressed person that cannot get from 
thee : to speak indiscreetly what we are obliged to hear, 
by being hasped up with thee in this public vehicle, is 
in some degree assaulting on the high road." 



156 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

Here Ephraim paused, and the captain with a happy 
and uncommon impudence (which can be convicted and 
support itself at the same time) cries, " Faith, friend, I 
thank thee ; T should have been a little impertinent if 
thou hadst not reprimanded me. Come, thou art, I see, 
a smoky^ old fellow, and I'll be very orderly the ensuing 
part of the journey. I was going to give myself airs, 
but, ladies, I beg pardon." 

The captain was so little out of humor, and our com- 
pany was so far from being soured by this little ruffle, 
that Ephraim and he took a particular delight in being 
agreeable to each other for the future ; and assumed 
their different provinces in the conduct of the company. 
Our reckonings, apartments, and accommodation, fell 
under Ephraim : and the captain looked to all disputes 
on the road, as the good behavior of our coachman, and 
the right we had of taking place as going to London of 
all vehicles coming from thence. The occurrences we 
met with were ordinary, and very little happened which 
could entertain by the relation of them : but when 1 con- 
sidered the company we were in, I took it for no small 
good fortune that the whole journey w^as not spent in 
impertinences, which to one part of us might be an 
entertainment, to the other a suffering. What therefore 
Ephraim said when we were almost arrived at London, 
had to me an air not only of good understanding but 
good breeding. Upon the young lady's expressing her 
satisfaction in the journey, and declaring how delightful 
it had been to her, Ephraim declared himself as follows : 

7. Suspicious. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 157 

''There is no ordinary part of human life which ex- 
presseth so much a good mind, and a right inward man, 
as his behavior upon meeting with strangers, especially 
such as may seem the mos^ unsuitable companions to 
him : such a man, when he f alleth in the way with per- 
sons of simplicity and innocence, however knowing he 
may be in the ways of men, will not vaunt himself 
thereof ; but will the rather hide his superiority to them, 
that he may not be painful unto them. My good friend," 
(continued he, turning to the officer) "thee and I are to 
part by and by, and peradventure we may never meet 
again : but be advised by a plain man ; modes and 
apparel are but trifles to the real man, therefore do ^ot 
think such a man as thyself terrible for thy garb, nor 
such a one as me contemptible for mine. When two 
such as thee and I meet, with affections as we ought to 
have towards each other, thou shouldst rejoice to see 
my peaceable demeanor, and I should be glad to see thy 
strength and ability to protect me in it.'' T. 

Suggestion.— Reproduce in your own words the Quaker's little 
sermon. 



158 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



XXV 

THE '^ SPECTATOR" IS SUMMONED 
TO LONDON 

"Mr. Spectator's" Reflections ox Town Life vs. 
Country Life 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 131, July 31, 171 1) 

Ifitroductory Note. In this Paper, the Spectator sets forth 
the advantage of the crowded city for a man who is not fond of 
society. 

'''' IpscB rursu7n co7icedite sylvce.^''^ 

Virgil, Eclogues, x. 63. 

It is usual for a man ^vho loves country sports to 
preserve the game in his own grounds, and divert him- 
self upon those^ that belong to his neighbor. My friend 
Sir Roger generally goes two or three miles from his 
house, and gets into the frontiers of his estate, before he 
beats about in search of a hare or partridge, on purpose 
to spare his own fields, where he is always sure of 
finding diversion, when the worst comes to the worst. 
By this means the breed about his house has time to in- 
crease and multiply, besides that the sport is the more 
agreeable where the game is the harder to come at, and 
where it does not lie so thick as to produce any per- 
plexity or confusion in the pursuit. For these reasons 

1. " Woodlands, I must part from you, too, now." 

2. i.e. The game that is bred and nourished on his neighbor's 
estate, although he finds it on his own. 



I 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEV 159 

the country gentleman, like the fox, seldom preys near 
his own home. 

In the same manner I have made a month's excursion out 
of the town, which is the great field of game for sportsmen 
of my species, to try my fortune in the country, where 
I have started several subjects, and hunted them down, 
with some pleasure to myself, and I hope to others. I 
am here forced to use a great deal of diligence before I 
can spring anything to my mind, \vhereas in town, 
whilst I am following one character, it is ten to one but 
I am crossed in my way by another, and put up such a 
variety of odd creatures in both sexes, that they foil the 
scent of one another, and puzzle the chase. My greatest 
diflSculty in the country is to find sport, and in towai to 
choose it. In the mean time, as I have given a whole 
month's rest to the cities of London and Westminster, ^ 
I promise myself abundance of new game upon my 
return thither. ^ 

It is indeed high time for me to leave the country, 
since I find the whole neighborhood begin to grow very 
inquisitive after my name and character. My lo^e of 
solitude, taciturnity, and particular way of life, having 
raised a great curiosity in all these parts. 

The notions which have been framed of me are 
various; some look upon me as very proud, some as 
very modest, and some as very melancholy. Will 
Wimble, as my friend the butler tells me, observing me 
very much alone, and extremely silent when I am in 

3. That part of London which contains the Abbey and tlie Houses 
of Parliament was formerly the city of Westminster. 



160 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

company, is afraid I have killed a man. The country 
people seem to suspect me for a conjurer ; and some of 
them hearing of the visit w^hich I made to Moll White, 
w^ill needs have it that Sir Roger has brought down a 
cunning man^ with him, to cure the old woman, and 
free the country from her charms. So that the char- 
acter which I go under in part of the neighborhood, is 
what they here call a ''white witch." ^ 

A justice of peace, who lives about five miles off, and 
is not of Sir Roger's party, has it seems said twice or 
thrice at his table, that he wishes Sir Roger does not 
harbor a Jesuit^ in his house, and that he thinks the 
gentlemen of the country would do very well to make 
me give some account of myself. 

On the other side, some of Sir Roger's friends are 
afraid the old knight is imposed upon by a designing 
fellow, and as they have heard that he converses very 
promiscuously when he is in town, do not know but he 
has brought down with him some discarded Whig,"^ that 
is sullen, and says nothing, because he is out of place. 

Such is the variety of opinions which are here enter- 
tained of me, so that I pass among some for a dis- 
affected person, and among others for a popish priest ; 
among some for a wizard, and among others for a 
murderer ; and all this for no other reason, that I can 

4. Magician. 

5. A person who uses magic arts for benevolent purposes. 

6. The members of this militant order of Roman Catholic priests 
were, at this time, forbidden to reside in England. 

7. The Whigs, who had been in power for a generation, were now 
out of favor with the Queen and were being removed from their 
oflaces. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 161 

imagine, but because I do not hoot and halloo and make 
a noise. It is true my friend Sir Roger tells them, that 
it is my way, and that I am only a philosopher ; but this 
will not satisfy them. They think there is more in me 
than he discovers, and that I do not hold my tongue for 
nothing. 

For these and other reasons I shall set out for London 
to-morrow, having found by experience that the country 
is not a place for a person of my temper, who does not 
love jollity, and what they call good neighborhood. A 
man that is out of humor when an unexpected guest 
breaks in upon him, and does not care for sacrificing an 
afternoon to every chance-comer ; that will be the 
master of his own time, and the pursuer of his own in- 
clinations, makes but a very unsociable figure in this 
kind of life. I shall therefore retire into the town, if I 
may make use of that phrase, and get into the crowd 
again as fast as I can, in order to be alone. I can there 
raise what speculations I please upon others without 
being observed myself, and at the same time enjoy all 
the advantages of company with all the privileges of 
solitude. In the mean while, to finish the month and 
conclude these my rural speculations, I shall here insert 
a letter from my friend Will Honeycomb, who has not 
lived a month for these forty years out of the smoke of 
London, and rallies me after his way upon my country 
life. 

Dear Spec, — I suppose this letter will find thee picking ot" 
daisies, or smelling to a lock of hay, or passing away thy time 
in some innocent country diversion of the like nature. I have 



162 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

however orders from the Club to summon thee up to town, being 
all of us cursedly afraid thou wilt not be able to relish our 
company, after thy conversations with Moll White and Will 
Wimble. Prithee don't send us up any more stories of a cock 
and a bull,^ nor frighten the town with spirits and witches. 
Thy speculations begin to smell confoundedly of woods and 
meadows. If thou dost not come up quickly, we shall conclude 
that thou art in love with one of Sir Roger's dairy-maids. 
Service to the knight.^ Sir Andrew is grown the cock of the 
Club since he left us, and if he does not return quickly will 
make every mother's son of us commonwealth's men.i'^ 
Dear Spec, 

Thine eternally, 

Will Honeycomb. 

c. 



8. A common expression applied to an exaggerated story. 

9. A formal expression of politeness. In full it might be, '' Offer my 
service to Sir Boger, in anything in which he may see fit to command 
me.'* 

10. Republicans. The Tories asserted that the logical tendency of 
Whig principles was toward the abolition of monarchy and the priv- 
ileged orders of society. 



SIJi ROGER DE COVERLEY 163 

XXVI 

SIR ROGER'S DEBATE WITH SIR 
ANDREW FREEPORT 

(Steele, in Spectator ^ No. 174, September 19, 171 1) 

Introductory Note, This is an essay on the value of com- 
merce and the commercial spirit to the national wealth, and on 
the groundlessness, under modern social conditions, of the 
claim of the landed interest to superiority over the mercantile 
interest. 

'* Hcec 7netnini et victuin frustra co7ite7idere Tkyrshi.''^ i 

Virgil, Eclogues, vii. 69. 

There is scarce anything more common than animos- 
ities between parties that cannot subsist but by their 
agreement ; this was well represented in the sedition of 
the members of the human body in the old Roman 
fable. ^ It is often the case of lesser confederate states 
against a superior power, which are hardly held to- 
gether, though their unanimity is necessary for their 
common safety : and this is always the case of the 

1. "So much I remember, and how Thyrsis failed in the match." 
State the application of tliis title verse. 

2. The different parts of the body, indignant tliat the stomach 
should receive so much and do so little, conspired that the hands 
should not convey food to the mouUi, nor the mouth receive it when 
presented, nor the teeth chew it. In consequence, all the parts of 
the body were reduced to the last degree of emaciation, and began to 
realize that the service of the stomach was by no means a slothful 
one; that it did not so much receive nourishment as supply it, send- 
ing to all parts of the body this blood by which we live and possess 
vigor. 



164 SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 

landed and trading interest of Great Britain : the trader 
is fed by the product of the land, and the landed man 
cannot be clothed but by the skill of the trader ; and 
yet those interests are ever jarring. 

We had last winter an instance of this at our Club, 
in Sir Roger de Coverley and Sir Andrew Freeport, 
between whom there is generally a constant, though 
friendly, opposition of opinions. It happened that one 
of the company, in an historical discourse, was observ- 
ing, that '' Carthaginian faith" was a ^Droverbial phrase 
to intimate breach of leagues. Sir Roger said it could 
hardly be otherwise : that the Carthaginians were the 
greatest traders in the world ; and as gain is the chief 
end of such a people, they never pursue any other : the 
means to it are never regarded ; they will, if it comes 
easily, get money honestly ; but if not, they will not 
scruple to attain it by fraud or cozenage : and indeed, 
what is the whole business of the trader's account, but 
to overreach him who trusts to his memory? But were, 
that not so, what can there great and noble be expected 
from him whose attention is forever fixed upon balanc- 
ing his books, and watching over his expenses? And 
at best, let frugality and parsimony be the virtues of 
the merchant, how much is his punctual dealing below 
a gentleman's charity to the poor, or hospitality among 
his neighbors? 

Captain Sentry observed Sir Andrew very diligent in 
hearing Sir Roger, and had a mind to turn the dis- 
course, by taking notice in general, from the highest to 
the lowest parts of human society, there was a secret, 



SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 165 

though unjust, way among men, of indulging the seeds 
of ill nature and envy, by comparing their own state of 
life to that of another, and grudging the approach of 
their neighbor to their own happiness ; and on the other 
side, he who is the less at his ease, repines at the other 
who, he thinks, has unjustly the advantage over him. 
Thus the civil and military lists look upon each other 
with much ill nature ; the soldier repines at the courtier's 
power, and the courtier rallies the soldier's honor ; or, 
to come to lower instances, the private men in the horse 
and foot of an army, the carmen and coachmen in the 
city streets, mutually look upon each other with ill will, 
when they are in competition for quarters or the way, 
in their respective motions. 

"It is very well, good captain," interrupted Sir An- 
drew: ''you may attempt to turn the discourse if you 
think fit ; but I must however have a w^ord or two with 
Sir Roger, who, I see, thinks he has paid me off, and 
been very severe upon the merchant. I shall not," con- 
tinued he, '' at this time remind Sir Roger of the great 
and noble monuments of charity and public spirit, which 
have been erected by merchants since the Reformation, 
but at present content myself with what he allows us, 
parsimony and frugality. If it were consistent with 
the quality of so ancient a baronet as Sir Roger, to 
keep an account, or measure things by the most infal- 
lible way, that of numbers, he would prefer our parsi- 
mony to his hospitality. If to drink so many hogsheads 
is to be hospitable, we do not contend for the fame of 
that virtue ; but it would be worth while to consider, 



166 SM ROGER DE COVERLEY 

whether so many artificers at work ten days together 
by my appointment, or so many peasants made merry 
on Sir Roger's charge, are the men more obliged? I 
believe the families of the artificers will thank me, 
more than the households of the peasants shall Sir 
Roger. Sir Roger gives to his men, but I place mine 
above the necessity or obligation of my bounty. I am 
in very little pain for the Roman proverb upon the 
Carthaginian traders ; the Romans were their professed 
enemies : I am only sorry no Carthaginian histories 
have come to our hands ; we might have been taught 
perhaps by them some proverbs against the Roman 
generosity, in lighting for- and bestowing other people's 
goods. But since Sir Roger has taken occasion from 
an old proverb to be out of humor with merchants, it 
should be no offense to offer one not quite so old in 
their defense. When a man happens to break in Hol- 
land, they say of him that ' he has not kept true 
accounts.' This phrase, perhaps, among us, would 
appear a soft or humorous way of speaking, but with 
that exact nation it bears the highest reproach; for 'a 
man to be mistaken in the calculation of his expense, 
in his ability to answer future demands, or to be imper- 
tinently sanguine in putting his credit to too great 
adventure, are all instances of as much infamy as 
with gayer nations to be failing in courage or common 
honesty. 

"Numbers are so much the measure of everything 
that is valuable, that it is not possible to demonstrate 
the success of any action, or the prudence of any under- 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 167 

taking, without them. I say this in answer to what 
Sir Roger is pleased to say, ' that b'ttle that is truly 
noble can be expected from one who is ever poring on 
his cash-book, or balancing his accounts.' When I 
have my returns from abroad, I can tell to a shilling, 
by the help of numbers, the profit or loss by my adven- 
ture ; but I ought also to be able to show that I had 
reason for making it, either from my own experience 
or that of other people, or from a reasonable presump- 
tion that my returns will be sufficient to answer my 
expense and hazard ; and this is never to be done with- 
out the skill of numbers. For instance, if I am to 
trade to Turkey, 1 ought beforehand to know the 
demand of our manufactures there, as well as of their 
silks in England, and the customary prices that are 
given for both in each country. I ought to have a 
clear knowledge of these matters beforehand, that I 
may presume upon sufficient returns to answer the 
charge of the cargo I have fitted out, the freight and 
assurance out and home, the custom to the Qiieen, and 
the interest of my' own money, and besides all these 
expenses a reasonable profit to myself. Now what is 
there of scandal in this skill ? What has the merchant 
done, that he should be so little in the good graces of 
Sir Roger? He throws down no man's inclosures, and 
tramples upon no man's corn ; he takes nothing from 
the industrious laborer ; he pays the poor man for his 
work ; he communicates his profit with mankind ; by 
the preparation of his cargo and the manufacture of 
his returns, he furnishes employment and subsistence to 



168 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

greater numbers than the richest nobleman ; and even 
the nobleman is obliged to him for finding out foreign 
markets for the produce of his estate, and for making a 
great addition to his rents; and yet 'tis certain, that 
none of all these things could be done by him without 
the exercise of his skill in numbers. 

'' This is the economy of the merchant ; and the con- 
duct of the gentleman must be the same, unless by 
scorning to be the steward, he resolves the steward 
shall be the gentleman. The gentleman, no more than 
the merchant, is able, without the help of numbers, to 
account for the success of any action, or the prudence 
of any adventure. If, for instance, the chase is his 
whole adventure, his only returns must be the stag's 
horns in the great hall, and the fox's nose upon the 
stable door. Without doubt Sir Roger knows the full 
value of these returns ; and if beforehand he had com- 
puted the charges of the chase, a gentleman of his dis- 
cretion would certainly have hanged up all his dogs, he 
would never have brought back so many fine horses to 
the kennel, he would never have gone so often, like a 
blast, over fields of corn. If such too had been the 
conduct of all his ancestors, he might truly have boasted 
at this day, that the antiquity of his family had never 
been sullied by a trade ; a merchant had never been 
permitted with his whole estate to purchase a room for 
his picture in the gallery of the Coverleys, or to claim 
his descent from the maid of honor. But 'tis very 
happy for Sir Roger that the merchant paid so dear 
for his ambition. 'Tis the misfortune of many other 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 169 

gentlemen to turn out of the seats of their ancestors, to 
make way for such new masters as have been more 
exact in their accounts than themselves ; and certainly 
he deserves the estate a great deal better, who has got 
it by his industry, than he who has lost it by his 
negligence." ^ T. 



3. Sir Roger maintains that the mercantile class adds little to the 
national wealth or safety, that the secrecy with which the merchant 
must surround his schemes for profit weakens his moral fibre, 
and that the strict economy of the successful merchant is mere 
parsimony. 

Sir Andrew replies that profit- taking cannot be fraud since all 
parties gain by legitimate business transactions, that the strict book- 
keeper is the benefactor of the poor through the employment he 
furnishes them, and that the business of the merchants, by opening 
markets for the produce of the soil, is the foundation of all national 
wealth. 

Suggestion.— Which has the better argument? 



170 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



XXVII 

SIR ROGER'S ADMIRATION FOR 
PRINCE EUGENE 

(Addison, in Spectator^ No. 269, January 8, 1712) 

Introductory Note. This essay was written with a definite" 
political purpose, and the Tory baronet is brought up to London 
to assist in a Whig party-manoeuvre. 

Queen Anne had given herself wholly to Tory counselors 
who were resolved to abandon the Whig policy of war with 
France, in alliance with the German powers. The English army 
had already been withdrawn from the field, and its general, the 
great Duke of Marlborough, had been dismissed. To protest 
against this change of policy, Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Com- 
mander-in-chief of the German forces, had recently arrived in 
England. The Whigs proposed that the Prince, who was well 
known as the companion in arms of the Duke of Marlborough 
and who was personally liked, should be received by the English 
public in a way that should convince Anne that the Whig war 
was still popular with all classes. The encomiums of Sir Roger 
on the Prince's character and military reputation were intended 
to influence public sentiment in this direction, and the refusal 
of the old baronet to use the French name Eugene is a reminder 
of the traditional dislike felt by English country gentlemen for 
French habits and manners. 

The mission of Prince Eugene was a failure and peace was 

concluded between England and France, in July, 1712. 

" y^vo rartsstma nostro 

Simplicitasy ^ 

Ovid, Ars Amatoria, Lib. I. 241. 

1 WAS this morning surprised with a great knocking at 
the door, when my landlady's daughter came up to me, 
1. " Most rare is now our old simplicity." 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 171 

and told me, that there was a man below desired to 
speak with me. Upon my asking her who it was, she 
told me it was a very grave elderly person, but that she 
did not know his name. I immediately went down to 
him, and found him to be the coachman of my worthy 
friend Sir Roger de Coverley. He told me that his 
master came to town last night, and would be glad to 
take a turn with me in Gray's Inn^ walks. As I was 
wondering in myself what had brought Sir Roger to 
town, not having lately received any letter from him, he 
told me that his master was come up to get a sight of 
Prince Eugene,^ and that he desired I would imme- 
diately meet him. 

I was not a little pleased with the curiosity of the old 
knight, though I did not much w^onder at it, having 
heard him say more than once in private discourse, that 
he looked upon Prince Eugenio (for so the knight 
always calls him) to be a greater man than Scanderbeg.^ 

I was no sooner come into Gray's Inn walks, but 1 
heard my friend upon the terrace hemming twice or 
thrice to himself with great vigor, for he loves to clear 
his pipes in good air (to make use of his own phrase) 
and is not a little pleased with any one who takes notice 
of the strength which he still exerts in his morning 
hems. 

I was touched with a secret joy at the sight of the good 
old man, who before he saw me was engaged in con- 

2. Near one of the Inns of Court. 

3. See Introductory Note. 

4. George Castriot, a celebrated Albanian chief in the 15th century. 
He was called Scanderbeg by the Turks, with whom he was engaged 
in a war for Albanian independence. 



172 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

versation with a beggar-man that had asked an ahiis of 
him. I could hear my friend chide him for not finding 
out some work ; but at the same time saw him put his 
hand in his pocket and give him sixpence. 

Our salutations wxre very hearty on both sides, con- 
sisting of many kind shakes of the hand, and several 
affectionate looks which we cast upon one another. 
After which the knight told me my good friend his chap- 
lain was very well, and much at my service, and that the 
Sunday before he had made a most incomparable 
sermon out of Dr. Barrow. " I have left," says he, 
" all my affairs in his hands, and being willing to 
lay an obligation upon him, have deposited with 
him thirty marks to be distributed among his poor 
parishioners.'' 

He then proceeded to acquaint wdth me the welfare 
of Will Wimble. Upon which he put his hand into his 
fob-'^ and presented me in his name with a tobacco- 
stopper, telling me that Will had been busy all the 
beginning of the winter in turning great quantities of 
them ; and that he made a present of one to every 
gentleman in the country who has good principles, and 
smokes. He added, that poor Will w^as at present 
under great tribulation, for that Tom Touchy had taken 
the law of him for cutting some hazel sticks out of one 
of his hedges. 

Among other pieces of news which the knight 
brought from his country seat, he informed me that 
Moll White was dead ; and that about a month after 

5. Watch Pocket. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 173 

her death the wind was so very high, that it blew down 
the end of one of his barns. " But for my own part," 
says Sir Roger, " I do not think that the old woman had 
any hand in it." 

He afterwards fell into an account of the diversions 
which had passed in his house during the holidays ; for 
Sir Roger, after the laudable custom of his an- 
cestors, always keeps open house at Christmas. I 
learned from him that he had killed eight fat hogs for 
the season, that he had dealt about his chines very liberally 
amongst his neighbors, and that in particular he had sent 
a string of hog's-puddings^ with a pack of cards to 
every poor family in the parish. ''I have often 
thought," says Sir Roger, "it happens very well that 
Christmas should fall out in the middle of the winter. 
It is the most dead uncomforta|)le time of the year, 
when the poor people would suffer very much from their 
poverty and cold, if they had not good cheer, warm 
fires, and Christmas gambols to support them. I love to 
rejoice their poor hearts at this season, and to see the 
whole village merry in my great hall. I allow a double 
quantity of malt to my small-beer, and set it a-running 
for twelve days to every one that calls for it. I have 
always a piece of cold beef and a mince pie upon the 
table, and am wonderfully pleased to see my tenants pass 
away a whole evening in playing their innocent tricks, 
and smutting one another. Our friend Will Wimble is 
as merry as any of them, and shows a thousand roguish 
tricks upon these occasions."^ 

6. Sausages. 

7. Write an account of an imaginary visit to Covcrlcy Hall on 
Ctiristmas Day. 



174 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

I was very much delighted with the reflection of my 
old friend, which carried so much goodness in it. He 
then launched out into the praise of the late act of Par- 
liament^ for securing the Church of England, and told 
me, with great satisfaction, that he believed it already 
began to take effect, for that a rigid Dissenter, ^ who 
chanced to dine at his house on Christmas Day, had 
been observed to eat very plentifully of his plum 
porridge. 

After having dispatched all our country matters, Sir 
Roger made several inquiries concerning the Club, and 
particularly of his old antagonist Sir Andrew Freeport. 
He asked me with a kind of smile, whether Sir Andrew 
had not taken advantage of his absence, to vent among 
them some of his republican doctrines ; but soon after 
gathering up his countenance into a more than ordinary 
seriousness, " Tell me truly," says he, " don't you think 
Sir Andrew had a hand in the Pope's procession "^^ — 
but without giving me time to answer him, "Well, 
well," says he, " I know you are a wary man, and do 
not care to talk of public matters." 



8. Passed in December, 1711, to prevent dissenters from qualifying 
for public office by occasionally attending the services of the Church 
of England. 

9. A Protestant wlio objected to the Church of England because 
that Church tolerated religious observances not instituted by Scrip- 
tural authority. The observance of Christmas was especially obnox- 
ious to these " Dissenters.'* 

10. It had long been customary in London to celebrate the anniver- 
sary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne (November 17th) by 
a procession in which the customs of the Roman Catholic Church were 
mocked nnd ridiculed. In 1711, the Tory government broke up the 
arrangements for the procession, an act of which the Whigs tried to 
make party capital. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 175 

The knight then asked me, if I had seen Prince 
Eugenio, and made me promise to get him a stand in 
some convenient place where he might have a full sight 
of that extraordinary man, w^hose presence does so much 
honor to the British nation. He dwelt very long on the 
praises of this great general, and I found that, since 1 
was with him in the country, he had drawn many obser- 
vations together out of his reading in Baker's " Chron- 
icle, *'ii and other authors, who always lie in his hall 
window, which very much redound to the honor of this 
prince. 

Having passed away the greatest part of the morning 
in hearing the knight's reflections, which were partly 
private, and partly political, he asked me if I would 
smoke a pipe with him over a dish of coffee at Squires's. 
As I love the old man, I take delight in complying with 
everything that is agreeable to him, and accordingly 
waited on him to the coffee-house, where his venerable 
figure drew upon us the eyes of the whole room. He 
had no sooner seated himself at the upper end of the 
high table, but he called for a clean pipe, a paper of 
tobacco, a dish of coffee, a wax candle, and the Sup- 
plement with such an air of cheerfulness and good 
humor, that all the boys in the coffee-room (who 
seemed to take pleasure in serving him) were at once 
employed on his several errands, insomuch that nobody 
else could come at a dish of tea, till the knight had got 
all his conveniences about him. L. 

11. The Chronicle of the Kings of England, by Sir Richard Baker 
(ninth edition, KUKJ), was the popular English history of the day 



176 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 



XXVIII 

THE REFLECTIONS OF SIR ROGER IN 
WESTMINSTER ABBEY 

(Addison, in Spectator No. 329, March iS, 1712) 

Introductory Note. Owing to the jealousy of the citizens of 
London for their chartered liberties, the kings of England, who 
found it necessary to make the commercial metropolis the capi- 
tal city of their kingdom, fixed their residence outside the city 
w^alls, at Westminster, near an old Abbey Church which had 
existed on the spot since early Saxon times. Westminster 
Abbey, consequently, became the home church of the kings 
of England, where they worshiped and where they were buried. 
As it was considered an honor by the nobles of England, to be 
buried near the tombs of their kings, the w^alls and floors of the 
Abbey became, in the course of time, covered with the eflSgies 
and monuments of» famous men; and a burial in Westminster 
Abbey came to be regarded as a fitting reward for a life of 
service to the English nation. 

" Ire tainen restate JVutna quo devejiit et Ancus.^^ ^ 

Horace, Lib. I. Ep. vi. 27. 

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley told me t'other night, 
that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster 
Abbey, ^ in which, says he, there are a great many inge- 
nious fancies. He told me at the same time, that he 
observed I had promised another paper upon the tombs, 
and that he should be glad to go and see them with me, 

1. " It remains for you to go where Numa and Ancus have already- 
gone." 

2. Spectator No. 26. 



S/J^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 177 

not having visited them since he had read history. I 
could not at first imagine how this came into the knight's 
head, till I recollected that he had been very busy all 
last summer upon Baker's ''Chronicle," which he has 
quoted several times in his disputes with Sir Andrew 
Freeport since his last coming to town. Accordingly I 
promised to call upon him the next morning, that we 
might go together to the Abbey. 

I found the knight under his butler's hands, who 
always shaves him. He was no sooner dressed, than he 
called for a glass of the Widow Trueby's v^ater,^ which 
he told me he always drank before he went abroad.^ 
He recommended me to a dram of it at the same time, 
with so much heartiness, that I could not forbear drink- 
ing it. As soon as I had got it down, I found it very 
unpalatable ; upon which the knight observing that I 
had made several w^ry faces, told me that he knew I 
should not like it at first, but that it was the best thing 
in the world against the stone or gravel. 

I could have wished indeed that he had acquainted 
me with the virtues of it sooner ; but it was too late to 
complain, and I knev^ what he had done was out of 
good will. Sir Roger told me further, that he looked 
upon it to be very good for a man whilst he staid in 
town, to keep off infection, and that he got together a 
quantity of it upon the first news of the sickness being 
at Dantzic :^ when of a sudden turning short to one of 

3. "One of the innumerable * strong waters,' drunk, it is said, 
chiefly hy the fair sex as an exhilarant." 

4. i. e. Out of Uie house. 

5. Tlie plague which raged in Dantzic in 1709. 



178 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

his servants, who stood behind him, he bid him call a 
hackney-coach,^ and take care it was an elderly man 
that drove it. 

He then resumed his discourse upon Mrs. Trueby's 
v^ater, telling me that the Widow Trueby was one who 
did more good than all the doctors and apothecaries in the 
county : that she distilled every poppy that grew within 
five miles of her ; that she distributed her water gratis 
among all sorts of people ; to which the knight added, 
that she had a very great jointure,^ and that the whole 
country would fain have it a match between him and 
her; ''and truly," says Sir Roger, " if I had not been 
engaged, perhaps I could not have done better." 

His discourse was broken off by his man's telling him 
he had called a coach. Upon our going to it, after 
having cast his eye upon the wheels, he asked the coach- 
man if his axle-tree ^vas good ; upon the fellow's telling 
him he would warrant it, the knight turned to me, told 
me he looked like an honest man, and ^vent in Avithout 
further ceremony. 

We had not gone far, when Sir Roger popping out 
his head called the coachman down from his box, and 
upon his presenting himself at the Avindo\\^, asked him 
if he smoked ; as I was considering what this \vould end 
in, he bid him stop by the way at any good tobacconist's, 
and take in a roll of their best Viro^inia.^ Nothino^ mate- 



6. A coach kept lor hire. 

7. An estate settled on a wife, which she enjoys after becoming a 
widow. 

8. Explain. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 179 

rial happened in the remaining part of our journey, till 
we were set down at the west end of the Abbey. 

As we went up the body of the church, the knight 
pointed at trophies^ upon one of the new monuments, 
and cried out, '' A brave man I warrant him ! " Pass- 
ing afterwards by Sir Cloudsly Shovel, ^^ he flung his 
hand that way and cried " Sir Cloudsly Shovel ! a very 
gallant man ! " As we stood before Busby's tomb,^! the 
knight uttered himself again after the same manner, 
'' Dr. B-usby, a great man ! he v^hipped my grandfather ; 
a very great man ! I should have gone to him myself, if 
I had not been a blockhead ; a very great man ! " 

We were immediately conducted into the little chapel 
on the right hand.^^ Sir Roger planting himself at our 
historian's elbow, was very attentive to everything he 
said, particularly to the account he gave us of the lord 
who had cut off the King of Morocco's head. Among 
several other figures, he was very vs^ell pleased to see the 
statesman CeciU*^ upon his knees ; and, concluding them 
all to be great men, was conducted to tlie figure w^hich 
represents that martyr to good housewifery, who died by 
the prick of a needle. ^^ Upon our interpreter's telling 
us, that she was a maid of honor to Queen Elizabeth, the 

9. A representation of a pile of weapons. 

10. i. e. Passing by his monument. Sir Cloudsly Shovel (born, 
1650) figures as one of the great seamen in the annals of the British 
navy. 

11. Headmaster of the Westminster School for fifty -five years. 

12. The chapel of St. Edmund. 

13. The son of Lord Burleigh. He held high ofl[ice under Queen 
Elizabeth. 

14. It is said of Elizabeth Russell that she died from the prick of a 
needle. Her statue is of alabaster, a sitting figure, in an attitude of 
sleep. 



180 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

knight was very inquisitive into her name and family ; 
and after having regarded her finger for some time, '' I 
wonder," says he, "that Sir Richard Baker has said 
nothincr of her in his ' Chronicle/ '^ 

o 

We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, ^^ 
v^diere my old friend, after having heard that the stone 
underneath the most ancient of them, which was brought 
from Scotland, w^as called Jacob's Pillar, ^^ sat himself 
down in the chair ; and looking like the figure of an old 
Gothic king, asked our interpreter, what authority they 
had to say, that Jacob had ever been in Scotland? The 
fellow, instead of returning him an answer, told him, 
that he hoped his honor would pay his forfeit/^ I 
could observe Sir Roger a little ruffled upon being thus 
trepanned ;^'^ but our guide not insisting upon his de- 
mand, the knight soon recovered his good humor, and 
whispered in my ear, that if Will Wimble were with us, 
and saw those two chairs, it would go hard but he 
would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or t'other of 
them. 

Sir Roger, in the next place, laid his hand upon Ed- 
ward III.'s sword, 1^ and leaning upon the pommel of it. 



15. These are the old Coronation Chair of the Scottish kings, and 
the new Coronation Chair, made for Queen Mary, wife of William 
III. The former contains under the seat the famous Stone of Scone, 
the emblem of the power of the Scottish princes. Tradition has it tliat 
this stone is tliat once used by tlie patriarch Jacob as a pillow but it 
is diflacult to trace the source of such a legend. Every English mon- 
arch since Edward I. brought the stone to London has been crowned 
in this chair. 

16. For having sat down on the chair. 

17. Caught. 

18. Edward III. conquered a great part of France. His sword is 
placed with his shield near his tomb. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 181 

gave us the whole history of the Black Prince ; con- 
cluding, that in Sir Richard Baker's opinion, Edward 
III. was one of the greatest princes that ever sat upon 
the English throne. 

We were then shown Edward the Confessor's^^ tomb ; 
upon which Sir Roger acquainted us, that he was the 
llrst who touched for the evil ;^^ and afterwards Henry 
IV. 's, upon which he shook his head, and told us there 
was fine reading in the casualties in that reign. 

Our conductor then pointed to that monument 
where there is the figure of one of our English kings 
without a head;^^ and upon giving us to know, that the 
head, which was of beaten silver, had been stolen away 
several years since: ''Some Whig, I'll warrant you," 
says Sir Roger; ''you ought to lock up your kings 
better; they will carry off the body too, if you don't 
take care." 

The glorious names of Henry V.^^ and Queen Eliza- 
beth-^ gave the knight great opportunities of shining,^^ 
and of doing justice to Sir Richard Baker, who, as our 
knight observed with some surprise, had a great many 
kings in him, whose monuments he had not seen in the 
Abbey. 



19. Identify. 

20 Scrofula. The disease was thought to vanish at the touch of a 
King. 

21. The effigy of Henry V. The head, which was of solid silver, was 
stolen during the reign of Henry VIII. 

22. Identify. 

23. Explain. 

Suggestion.— What sort of person would you imagine Sir Roger, 
were this essay your only source of information? 



182 SIR RO6ER DE COVERLEY 

For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see 
the knight show such an honest passion for the glory of 
his country, and such a respectful gratitude to the mem- 
ory of its princes. 

I must not omit, that the benevolence of my good old 
friend, which flows out towards everyone he converses 
with, made him very kind to our interpreter, whom he 
looked upon as an extraordinary man ; for which reason 
he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him, that 
he should be very glad to see him at his lodgings in 
Norfork Buildings, and talk over these matters with 
him more at leisure. L. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 183 

XXIX 
SIR ROGER AND BEARDS 

(Budgell, in Spectator^ No. 331, March 20, 1712) 

Introductory Note. This essay gives Sir Roger's reflections 
on the idea, anciently very prevalent, that a long beard is the 
distinguishing mark of a wise and dignified man. 

" Stolidam prcebet tibi vellere harbam.'" ^ 

Persius, Sat. ii. 28. 

When I was last with my friend Sir Roger in West- 
minster Abbey, I observed that he stood longer than 
ordinary before the bust of a venerable old man. I was 
at a loss to guess the reason of it, when after some time 
he pointed to the figure, and asked me if I did not think 
that our forefathers looked much wiser in their beards 
than we do without them.? "For my part," says he, 
" when I am walking in my gallery in the country, and 
see my ancestors, who many of them died before they 
were of my age, I cannot forbear regarding them as so 
many old patriarchs, and at the same time looking upon 
myself as an idle smockfaced^ young fellow. I love to 
see your Abrahams, your Isaacs, and your Jacobs, as 
we have them in old pieces of tapestry, with beards 
below their girdles, that cover half the hangings." The 
knight added, if I would recommend beards in one of 
my papers, and endeavor to restore human faces to their 

1. " Holds out his foolish beard for thee to pluck.** 

2. i. e. Ilavinpf a feminine face. 



184 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

ancient dignity, that upon a month's warning he would 
undertake to lead up the fashion himself in a pair of 
whiskers. 

I smiled at my friend's fancy ; but after w^e parted, 
could not forbear reflecting on the metamorphoses our 
faces have undergone in this particular. 

The beard, conformable to the notion of my friend 
Sir Roger, was for many ages looked upon as the type 
of wisdom. Lucian^ more than once rallies the philos- 
ophers of his time, who endeavored to rival one another 
in beard ; and represents a learned man who stood for a 
professorship in philosophy, as unqualified for it by the 
shortness of his beard. 

^lian,^ in his account of Zoilus,^ the pretended 
critic, who wrote against Homer^ and Plato, ^ and 
thought himself wiser than all w^ho had gone before 
him, tells us that this Zoilus had a very long beard that 
hung down upon his breast, but no hair upon his head, 
which he always kept close shaved, regarding, it seems, 
the hairs of his head as so many suckers, w^hich if they 
had been suffered to grow, might have drawn away the 
nourishment from his chin, and by that means have 
starved his beard. 

I have read somewhere that one of the popes refused 
to accept an edition of a saint's works, which w^ere pre- 
sented to him, because the saint in his effigies before 
the book, v^as drawn without a beard. 

3. Satirist and humorist. Second century A. D. 

4. Historian and rhetorician, lived about 250 A. D. 

5. A Greek grammarian, about 350 B. C. 

6. Identify. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 185 

We see by these instances what homage the world 
has formerly paid to beards ; and that a barber was not 
then allowed to make those depredations on the faces of 
the learned, which have been permitted him of later 
years. 

Accordingly several wise nations have been so ex- 
tremely jealous of the least ruffle offered to their beard, 
that they seem to have fixed the point of honor prin- 
cipally in that part. The Spaniards were wonderfully 
tender in this particular. Don Quevedo,"^ in his third 
'' Vision on the Last Judgment," has carried the humor 
very far, when he tells us that one of his vainglorious 
countrymen, after having received sentence, was taken 
into custody by a couple of evil spirits ; but that his 
guides happening to disorder his mustaches, they were 
forced to recompose them with a pair of curling-irons 
before they could get him to file off. 

If we look into the history of our own nation, we shall 
find that the beard flourished in the Saxon Heptarchy, 
but was very much discouraged under the Norman line. 
It shot out, however, from time to time, in several 
reigns under different shapes. The last effort it made 
seems to have been in Queen Mary's^ days, as the curious 
reader may find, if he pleases to peruse the figures of 
Cardinal Pole,^ and Bishop Gardiner;!^ though at the 

7. A Spanish writer, 1580-1645. 

8. Give the dates. 

9. An English cardinal. He lost the favor of Henry VIII. by oppos- 
Ing the divorce of Catharine of Aragon, and was restored to power by 
Queen Mary. 

10. An Englisli prelate and statesman. Under Queen Mary, he 
became chancellor of England, and the chief foe of Protestantism. 



186 SIR ROGER BE CQVERLEY 



same time, I think it may be questioned, if zeal against 
popery has not induced our Protestant painters to extend 
the beards of these two persecutors beyond their natural 
dimensions, in order to make them appear the more 
terrible. 

I find but few beards worth taking notice of in the 
reign of King James I.^^ 

During the civil wars^^ there appeared one, which 
makes too great a figure in story to be passed over in 
silence; I mean that of the redoubted Hudibras,^^ an 
account of which Butler has transmitted to posterity in 
the following lines : — 

*' His tawny beard was th' equal grace 
Both of his wisdom, and his face ; 
In cut and dye so like a tile, 
A sudden view it would beguile : 
The upper part thereof was w^hey, 
The nether orange mixt with gray." 

The whisker continued for some time among us after 
the expiration of beards ; but this is a subject which I 
shall not here enter upon, having discussed it at large in 
a distinct treatise, which I keep by me in manuscript, 
upon the mustache. 

If my friend Sir Roger's project, of introducing 
beards, should take effect, I fear the luxury of the 
present age would make it a very expensive fashion. 



11. Give llie dates. 

12. flxplain the reference. 

13. The hero of a noted satire written by Samuel Butler in the 17th 
century. 



\ 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 187 

There is no question but the beaus would soon provide 
themselves with false ones of the lightest colors, and the 
most immoderate lengths. A fair beard, of the tapestry 
size Sir Roger seems to approve, could not come under 
twenty guineas. The famous golden beard of y^scula- 
pius^^ would hardly be more valuable than one made in 
the extravagance of the fashion. 

Besides, we are not certain that the ladies would not 
come into the mode, when they take the air on horse- 
back. They already appear in hats and feathers, coats 
and periwigs ; and I see no reason why we [may] not 
suppose that they would have their riding-beards on the 
same occasion. 

I may give the moral of this discourse in another 
paper. X. 

14. The god of medicine and healing. JEsculapius is represented 
In art as a man with a long heard, leaning on a staff around which 
serpents are twined. 

Suggfestion.— Make an outline or abstract of this essay. Compare 
its literary style with that of the other essays in this volume. 



188 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XXX 
SIR ROGER AT THE PLAY 

(Addison, in Spectator, No. 335, March 25, 1712) 

Introductory Note. The play described is "The Distressed 
Mother," an adaptation of the " Andromaque " of Racine. It 
was written bv Ambrose Philips, an intimate friend of the con- 
tributors to the Spectator. Steele wrote the prologue to the 
play; and Budgell, assisted, it is said, by Addison himself, 
wrote the epilogue. 

" Respicere exemplar vitce inorumque jubebo 
Doctuni imitator em ^ et veras hinc dticere voces. ^^^ 

Horace, Ars Poetica, v. 327. 

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley, when we last met 
together at the Club, told me, that he had a great mind 
to see the new tragedy^ with me, assuring me at the 
same time, that he had not been at a play these twenty 
years. "The last I saw," said Sir Roger, ''was 'The 
Committee '^ which I should not have gone to neither, 
had not I been told beforehand that it was a good 
Church-of -England comedy." He then proceeded to 
inquire of me who this distressed mother was ; and 
upon hearing that she was Hector's^ widow, he told me 
that her husband was a brave man, and that when he 

1. *'I should advise the man who with cunning skill both men and 
things would paint, to regard with care a fitting type of manners and 
life, and thence to draw words that live and speak." 

2. "The Distressed Mother." 

3. A comedy by R. Howard, ridiculing the Puritans, 1663. 

4. Consult the Classical Dictionary. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 189 

was a schoolboy he had read his life at the end of the 
dictionary. My friend asked me, in the next place, if 
there would not be some danger in coming home late, 
in case the Mohocks^ should be abroad. "I assure 
you," says he, '' I thought I had fallen into their hands 
last night ; for I observed two or three lusty black men 
that followed me half-way up Fleet Street, and mended 
their pace behind me, in proportion as I put on to get 
away from them.^ You must know," continued the 
knight with a smile, "I fancied they had a mind to 
hunt me ; for I remember an honest gentleman in my 
neighborhood, who was served such a trick in King 
Charles II. 's'^ time ; for which reason he has not ventured 
himself in town ever since. I might have shown them 
very good sport, had this been their design ; for as I am 
an old fox-hunter, I should have turned and dodged, 
and have played them a thousand tricks they had never 
seen in their lives before." Sir Roger added, that, " if 
these gentlemen had any such intention, they did not suc- 
ceed very well in it : for I threw them out," says he, ''at 
the end of Norfolk Street, where I doubled the corner, 
and got shelter in my lodgings before they could imagine 
what was become of me. However,'' says the knight, 
" if Captain Sentry will make one with us to-morrow 
night, and if you will both of you call upon me about 
four o'clock, that we may be at the house before it is 

5. A class of ruffians, who, in the 18th century, infested the streets 
of London. They were so named from a tribe of savage American 
Indians. 

6. Re^vrite this sentence using modern American idioms. 

7. Identify. 



190 SIJ^ ROGER DE COVERLEY 

full, I will have my own coach in readiness to attend 
you, for John tells me he has got the fore-w^heels 
mended." 

The captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the 
appointed hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he 
had put on the same sword which he made use of at the 
battle of Steenkirk.^ Sir Roger's servants, and among 
the rest my old friend the butler, had, I found, provided 
themselves w^ith good oaken plants, to attend their mas- 
ter upon this occasion. When he had placed him in 
his coach, with myself at his left hand, the captain 
before him, and his butler at the head of his footmen in 
the rear, we convoyed him in safety to the playhouse, 
w^here, after having marched up the entry in good order, 
the captain and I went in with him, and seated him 
betwixt us in the pit. As soon as the house was full, 
and the candles lighted, my old friend stood up and 
looked about him with that pleasure,- w^iich a mind 
seasoned w4th humanity naturally feels in itself, at the 
sight of a multitude of people w^ho seem pleased with 
one another, and partake of the same common enter- 
tainment. I could not but fancy to myself, as the old 
man stood up in the middle of the pit, that he made a 
very proper center to a tragic audience. Upon the 
entering of Pyrrhus, the knight told me, that he did not 
believe the King of France himself had a better strut. 
I was indeed very attentive to my 0I4 friend's remarks, 
because I looked upon them as a piece of natural criti- 

8. William III. was defeated at Steenkirk, Belgium, by the French, 
August 2, 1692. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 191 

cism, and was well pleased to hear him at the conclusion 
of almost every scene, telling me that he could not 
imagine how the play would end. One while he ap- 
peared much concerned for Andromache ;9 and a little 
while after as much for Hermione : and was extreiliely 
puzzled to think what would become of Pyrrhus. 

When Sir Roger saw Andromache's obstinate refusal 
to her lover's importunities, he whispered me in the 
ear, that he was sure she would never have him ; to 
which he added, with a more than ordinary vehemence, 
"You can't imagine, sir, what 'tis to have to do with a 
widow." Upon Pyrrhus's threatening afterwards to 
leave her, the knight shook his head, and muttered to 
himself, "Ay, do if you can." This part dwxlt so 
much upon my friend's imagination, that at the close 
of the third act, as I was thinking of something else, 
he whispered in my ear, "These widows, sir, are the 
most perverse creatures in the world. But pray," says 
he, " you that are a critic, is this play according to your 
dramatic rules, as you call them? Should your people 
in tragedy always talk to be understood?/ Why, there 
is not a single sentence in this play that I do not know 
the meaning of." 

The fourth act very luckily began before I had time 
to give the old gentleman an answer : " Well," says the 
.knight, sitting down with great satisfaction, " I suppose 
we are now to see Hector's ghost." He then renewed 



9. Consult the Clagsical Dictionary for tlie story of Antlroin- 
aclie aii<l for tlie identification of all tlie proper names of tliis 
parag^raph. 



192 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

his attention, and, from time to time, fell a-praising the 
widow. He made, indeed, a little mistake as to one of 
her pages, whom at his first entering, he took for 
Astyanax;!^ but he quickly set himself right in that 
particular, though, at the same time, he owned he 
should have been very glad to have seen the little boy, 
w^ho, says he, must needs be a very fine child by the 
account that is given of him. Upon Hermione's going 
off with a menace to Pyrrhus, the audience gave a loud 
clap; to which Sir Roger added, "On my word, a 
notable young baggage ! " 

As there was a very remarkable silence and stillness 
in the audience during the whole action, it was natural 
for them to take the opportunity of these intervals be- 
tween the acts, to express their opinion of the players, 
and of their respective parts. Sir Roger hearing a 
cluster of them praise Orestes, ^^ struck in with them, 
and told them, that he thought his friend Pylades was a 
very sensible man ; as they were afterwards applauding 
Pyrrhus, Sir Roger put in a second time ; " And let me 
tell you," says he, ''though he speaks but little, I like 
the old fellow in whiskers^^ as well as any of them." 
Captain Sentry seeing two or three wags who sat near 
us, lean with an attentive ear towards Sir Roger, and 
fearing lest they should smoke^-^ the knight, plucked 
him by the elbow, and whispered something in his ear, 

10. The son of Hector and Andromache. 

11. Kead tlie story of Orestes and Pylades from tlie Classical 
Dictionary. 

12. Phoenix, the counselor of Pyrrhus. 

13. Ridicule. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 193 

that lasted till the opening of the fifth act. The knight 
was wonderfully attentive to the account which Orestes 
gives of Pyrrhus's death, and at the conclusion of it, 
told me it was such a bloody piece of work, that he 
was glad it was not done upon the stage. Seeing after- 
wards Orestes in his raving fit, he grew more than 
ordinary serious, and took occasion to moralize (in his 
way) upon an evil conscience, adding, that Orestes, in 
his madness, looked as if he saw something. 

As we were the first that came into the house, so we 
were the last that w^ent out of it ; being resolved to 
have a clear passage for our old friend, whom we did 
not care to venture among the jostling of the crowd. 
Sir Roger went out fully satisfied with his entertain- 
ment, and we guarded him to his lodgings in the same 
manner that we brought him to the playhouse ; being 
highly pleased, for my own part, not only with the per- 
formance of the excellent piece which had been pre- 
sented, but with the satisfaction which it had given to 
the good old man. L. 

Suggestion.— Compare essays 112, 329, 335, and 383. 



194 SIJi ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XXXI 
SIR ROGER AND WILL HONEYCOMB 

(Budgell, in Spectator^ No. 359, April 32, 1712) 

Introductory Note. This essay embodies Mr. Spectator's 
reflections on the inconstancy of the feminine mind as illus- 
trated by the wooings of Will Honeycomb and the experience 
of Sir Roger with the widow. 

^^Torva leceiia lupum sequitur^ lupus ipse capellam ; 
Floretttem cytzsum sequitur lasciva capella " ^ 

Virgil, Eclogues, II. 63. 

As we were at the Club last night, I observed that my 
friend Sir Roger, contrary to his usual custom, sat very 
silent, and instead of minding what was said by the com- 
pany, was whistling to himself in a very thoughtful mood, 
and playing with a cork. I jogged Sir Andrew Freeport 
who sat between us ; and as we were both observing him, 
we saw the knight shake his head, and heard him say to 
himself, ''A foolish woman! I can't belie\'e it." Sir 
Andrew gave him a gentle pat upon the shoulder, and 
offered to lay him a bottle of wine that he was thinking 
of the widow. My old friend started, and recovering 
out of his brown study, told Sir Andrew that once in his 
life he had been in the right. In short, after some little 
hesitation, Sir Roger told us in the fullness of his heart 
that he had just received a letter from his steward, which 

1. ** The grim lioness follows the wolf, the wolf, for his part, follows 
the goat, the playful goat follows the flowering thyme." 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 195 

aqliainted him that his old rival and antagonist in the 
county, Sir David Dundrum, had been making a visit to 
the widow. '' However," says Sir Roger,'' I can never 
think that she'll have a man that's half a year older than 
I am, and a noted Republican into the bargain." 

Will Honeycomb, who looks upon love as his particu- 
lar province, interrupting our friend with a jaunty laugh ; 
'' I thought, knight," says he, ''thou hadst lived long 
enough in the world, not to pin thy happiness upon one 
that is a woman and a widow. I think that without 
vanity I may pretend to know as much of the female 
world as any man in Great Britain, though the chief of 
my knowledge consists in this, that they are not to be 
known." Will immediately, with his usual fluency, 
rambled into an account of his own amours. " I am 
now," says he, "upon the verge of fifty" (though by 
the way we all knew he was turned of three-score). 
"You may easily guess," continued Will, " that I have 
not lived so long in the world without having had some 
thoughts of settling in it, as the phrase is. To tell you 
truly, I have several times tried my fortune that vv^ay, 
though I can't much boast of my success. 

" 1 made my first addresses to a young lady in tlie 
country ; but when I thought things were pretty well 
drawing to a conclusion, her father happening to hear 
that I had formerly boarded with a surgeon, the old put^ 
forbid me his house, and within a fortnight after married 
his daughter to a fox-hunter in the neighborhood. 

" I made my next applications to a widow, and at- 

2. Rustic, "clown." 



196 SIR ROGER DE COVER LEY 

tacked her so briskly, that I thought myself within a 
fortnight of her. As I waited upon her one morning, 
she told me that she intended to keep her ready-money 
and jointure in her own hand, and desired me to call 
upon her attorney in Lyon's Inn,^ w^ho would adjust 
wdth me what it was proper for me to add to it. I was 
so rebuffed by this overture, that I never inquired either 
for her or her attorney afterwards. 

"A few months after I addressed myself to a young 
lady, who was an only daughter, and of a good family. 
I danced with her at several balls, squeezed her by the 
hand, said soft things to her, and, in short, made no 
doubt of her heart ; and though my fortune was not 
equal to hers, I was in hopes that her fond father would 
not deny her the man she had fixed her affections upon. 
But as I went one day to the house in order to break the 
matter to him, I found the whole family in confusion, 
and heard to my unspeakable surprise, that Miss Jenny 
was that very morning run away with the butler. 

" I then courted a second widow, and am at a loss to 
this day how I came to miss her, for she had often com- 
mended my person and behavior. Her maid indeed told 
me one day, that her mistress had said she never saw a 
gentleman with such a spindle pair of legs as Mr, 
Honeycomb. 

"After this I laid siege to four heiresses successively, 
and being a handsome young dog in those days, quickly 
made a breach in their hearts ; but I don't know how it 
came to pass, though I seldom failed of getting the 

3. One of Inns of Court. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY > 197 

daughter's consent, I could never in my life get the old 
people on my side. 

'^ I could give you an account of a thousand other un- 
successful attempts, particularly of one which I made 
some years since upon an old vs^oman, whom I had cer- 
tainly borne away with flying colors, if her relations had 
not come pouring in to her assistance from all parts of 
England ; nay, I believe I should have got her at last, 
had not she been carried off by a hard frost." 

As Will's transitions are extremely quick, he turned 
from Sir Roger, and applying himself to me, told me 
there was a passage in the book I had considered last 
Saturday, which deserved to be writ in letters of gold; 
and taking out a pocket Milton read the following lines, 
which are part of one of Adam's speeches to Eve after 
the Fall.4 

" Oh ! why did our 
Creator wise ! that peopled highest heav'n 
With spirits masculine, create at last 
This novelty on earth, this fair defect 
Of nature? and not fill the world at once 
With men as angels, without feminine? 
Or find some other way to generate 
Mankind? This mischief had not then befall'n, 
And more that shall befall ; innumerable 
Disturbances on earth through female snares, 
And strait conjunction with this sex ; for either 
He never shall find out fit mate, but such 
As some misfortune brings him, or mistake ; 
Or, whom he wishes most, shall seldom gain 
Through her perverseness ; but shall see her gain'd 

4. Identify tlie allusions of this paragraph. 



198 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

Bj a far worse ; or if she love, withheld 

Bj parents ; or his happiest choice too late 

Shall meet already link'd, and wedlock bound 

To a fell adversary, his hate or shame ; 

Which infinite calamity shall cause 

To human life, and household peace confound." 

Sir Roger listened to this passage with great atten- 
tion, and desiring Mr. Honeycomb to fold down a leaf 
at the place, and lend him his book, the knight put it 
up in his pocket, and told us that he w^ould read over 
those verses again before he went to bed. X. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 199 

XXXII 
SIR ROGER AT VAUXHALL 

(Addison, in Spectator, No. 383, May 20, 1712) 

Introdtccto7y Note. This Paper gives the reader a glimpse of 
Vauxhall, a public garden, for a long time one of London's most 
noted resorts. " From a playfully contrived v^ater-w^ork, which, 
on being unguardedly pressed by the foot, sprinkled the by- 
standers, it was called Spring Garden. There was bowling 
there, promenading, eating, and drinking, and, in consequence of 
the last, occasional quarreling and fighting ; so at last the per- 
mission for the public to use Spring Garden was withdrawn." 
— Chambers " Book of Days.'' 

''^ Criminibus debetit kortos.'' i 

Juvenal, Sat. i. 75. 

As I was sitting in my chamber, and thinking on a 
subject for my next '' Spectator/' 1 heard two or three 
irregular bounces at my landlady's door, and upon the 
opening of it, a loud cheerful voice inquiring whether 
the philosopher was at home. The child who went to 
the door answered very innocently, that he did not lodge 
there. I immediately recollected that it was my good 
friend Sir Roger's voice ; and that I had promised to go 
with him on the water to Spring Garden,^ in case it 
proved a good evening. The knight put me in mind of 
my promise from the bottom of the staircase, but told 
me that if I was speculating he would stay below till I 

1. '• A beauteous garden, but by vice maintainecl." 

2. See Introductory Note. 



200 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

had done. Upon my coming down, I found all the 
children of the family got about my old friend, and my 
landlady herself, who is a notable prating gossip, en- 
gaged in a conference with him ; being mightily pleased 
with his stroking her little boy upon the head, and bid- 
ding him be a good child and mind his book. 

We w^ere no sooner come to the Temple Stairs^ but 
we were surrounded wath a crowd of watermen, offering 
us their respective services. Sir Roger, after having 
looked about him very attentively, spied one with a 
wooden leg, and immediately gave him orders to get his 
boat ready. As we were walking towards it, "You 
must know," says Sir Roger, "I never make use of 
anybody to row me, that has not either lost a leg or an 
arm. I would rather bate him a few strokes of his oar, 
than not employ an honest man that has been wounded 
in the Queen's service. If I was a lord or a bishop, and 
kept a barge, I \vould not put a fellow in my livery that 
had not a wooden leg." 

My old friend, after having seated himself, and 
trimmed the boat with his coachman, who, being a very 
sober man, always serves for ballast on these occasions, 
we made the best of our way for Vauxhall. Sir Roger 
obliged the waterman to give us the history of his right 
leg, and hearing that he had left it at La Hogue,'^ with 
many particulars which passed in that glorious action, 
the knight in the triumph of his heart made several 

3. A landing place extending across two stone arches well into the 
Thames. Vauxhall was on the south side of the river. 

4. A cape on the northwest coast of France. Here the English and 
the Dutch fleets defeated the French, May 19, 1692. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 201 

reflections on the greatness of the British nation ; as, 
that one Englishman could beat three Frenchmen ; that 
we could never be in danger of popery so long as we 
took care of our fleet ; that the Thames was the noblest 
river in Europe ; that London Bridge was a greater 
piece of work, than any of the seven wonders of the 
world ; with many other honest prejudices which natu- 
rally cleave to the heart of a true Englishman. 

After some short pause, the old knight turning about 
his head twice or thrice, to take a survey of this great 
metropolis, bid me observe how thick the city was set 
with churches, and that there was scarce a single steeple 
on this side Temple Bar.^ '' A most heathenish sight ! " 
says Sir Roger : " there is no religion at this end of the 
town. The fifty new churches^ will very much mend the 
prospect ; but church work is slow, church work is 
slow ! " 

I do not remember I have anywhere mentioned, in 
Sir Roger's character, his custom of saluting everybody 
that passes by him with a good-morrovs^ or a good-night. 
This the old man does out of the overflowings of his 
humanity, though at the same time it renders him so 
popular among all his country neighbors, that it is 
thought to have gone a good way in making him once 
or twice knight of the shire. He cannot forbear this 
exercise of benevolence even in town, when he meets 
with any one in his morning or evening w alk. It broke 
from him to several boats that passed by us upon the 

5. This marked the confines of the old city of London. 

6. Ordered erected in the suburbs of London by Act of Parliament, 
1710. 



202 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

water ; but to the knight's great surprise, as he gave the 
good-night to two or three young fellows a little before 
our landing, one of them, instead of returning the civility, 
asked us what queer old put we had in the boat, with a 
great deal of the like Thames ribaldry. Sir Roger 
seemed a little shocked at first, but at length assuming a 
face of magistracy, told us, that if he were a Middlesex 
justice,'^ he would make such vagrants know that her 
Majesty's subjects were no more to be abused by water 
than by land. 

We were now arrived at Spring Garden, which is 
exquisitely pleasant at this time of year. When I con- 
sidered the fragrancy of the walks and bowers, with 
the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees, and the 
loose tribe^ of people that walked under their shades, I 
could not but look upon the place as a kind of Mahom- 
etan Paradise.^ Sir Roger told me it put him in mind 
of a little coppice by his house in the country, which 
his chaplain used to call an aviary of nightingales. 
"You must understand," says the knight, ''there is 
nothing in the world that pleases a man in love so much 
as your nightingale. Ah, Mr. Spectator ! the many 
moonlight nights that 1 have walked by myself, and 
thought on the widow by the music of the nightin- 
gales ! " He here fetched a deep sigh, and was falling 
into a fit of musing, when a mask, who came behind 

7. A Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex, which in. 
eluded London and Westminster. 

8. What does this mean? 

9. Mahomet promised an eternity of sensual delight to those of bis 
followers who died fighting for the faith. 



SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 208 

him, gave him a gentle tap upon the shoulder, and asked 
him if he would drink a bottle of mead with her? But 
the knight, being startled at so unexpected a familiarity, 
and displeased to be interrupted in his thoughts of the 
widow, told her, she was a wanton baggage, and bid 
her go about her business. 

We concluded our walk with a glass of Burton ale, 
and a slice of hung beef. When we had done eating 
ourselves, the knight called a w^aiter to him, and bid 
him carry the remainder to the waterman that had but 
one leg. I perceived the fellow stared upon him at the 
oddness of the message, and was going to be saucy ; 
upon which I ratified the knight's commands with a 
peremptory look. ^ I. 



204 S/Ji ROGER DE COVERLEY 

XXXIII 
THE DEATH OF SIR ROGER 

(Addison, in Spectator^ Xo. 517, October 23, 1712) 

Ifitroductory Xote. It is said that Addison became so fond of 
Sir Roger that he could not suppress a feeling of jealousy when 
the character was introduced in the papers contributed to the 
Spectator by his associates. The Spectator had now enjoyed a 
longer period of popularity than was usual with periodicals of its 
class and must soon be brought to a close. To prevent the pos- 
sibility of the character of Sir Roger de Co\'erley being taken 
up by some other periodical essayist, Addison devoted this Paper 
to the good old baronet's death and burial, 

' ' Hen pietas ! hen prisca fides. ' * ^ 

Virgil, .^neid, Lib. VI. S7S. 

We last night received a piece of ill news at our Club, 
which very sensibly afflicted every one of us. I ques- 
tion not but my readers themselves will be troubled at 
the hearing of it. To keep them no longer in suspense, 
Sir Roger de Coverley is dead. He departed this life 
at his house in the country, after a few weeks' sickness. 
Sir Andrew Freeport has a letter from one of his cor- 
respondents in those parts, that informs him the old 
man caught a cold at the county-sessions, as he was 
very warmly promoting '^ an address of his own penning, 
in which he succeeded according to his wishes. But 
this particular comes from a Whig justice of peace, 

1. •' Woe for the piety, for the ancient faith 1 " 

2. i. e. Sustaining in a speech. 



Sm ROGER DE COVER LEY 205 

who was always Sir Roger's enemy and antagonist. I 
have letters both from the chaplain and Captain Sentry 
which mention nothing of it, but are filled with many 
particulars to the honor of the good old man. I have 
likewise a letter from the butler, who took so much 
care of me last summer when I was at the knight's 
house. As my friend the butler mentions, in the sim- 
plicity of his heart, several circumstances the others have 
passed over in silence, I shall give my reader a copy of 
his letter, without any alteration or diminution. 

Honored Sir,^ — Knowing that jou was my old master's 
good friend, I could not forbear sending jou the melancholy 
news of his death, which has afflicted the whole country, as well 
as his poor servants, who loved him, I may say, better than we 
did our lives. I am afraid he caught his death the last county^ 
sessions, where he would go to see justice done to a poor widow 
woman, and her fatherless children, that had been wronged by 
a neighboring gentleman ; for you know, sir, my good master 
was always the poor man's friend. Upon hi^ coming home, 
the first complaint he made was, that he had lost his roast-beef 
stomach, not being able to touch a sirloin, which was served 
up according to custom ; and you know he used to take great 
delight in it. From that time forward he grew worse and 
worse, but still kept a good heart to the last. Indeed we were 
once in great hope of his recovery, upon a kind message that 
was sent him from the widow lady whom he had made love to 
the forty last years of his life ; but this only proved a light'ning 
before death. He has bequeathed to this lady, as a token of his 
love, a great pearl necklace, and a couple of silver bracelets set 
with jewels, which belonged to my good old lady his mother : 
he has bequeathed the fine white gelding, that he used to ride 

3. <^ IVotice the admirable art vi'itli wlticti the character of the 
honest hiitler is assumed and the delicate lights and shades of 
expression suitable to the character." — Swinton, 



206 SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY 

a hunting upon, to his chaplain, because he thought he would 
be kind to him, and has left jou all his books. He has, more- 
over, bequeathed to the chaplain a very pretty tenement * Avith 
good lands about it. It being a very cold day when he made 
his will, he left for mourning, to every man in the parish, a 
great frieze-coat, and to every w^oman a black riding-hood. 

It was a most moving sight to see him take leave of his poor 
servants, commending us all for our fidelity, whilst we were not 
able to speak a word for weeping. As we most of us are grown 
gray-headed in our dear master's service, he has left us pensions 
and legacies, which we may live very comfortably upon, the 
remaining part of our days. He has bequeathed a great deal 
more in charity, which is not yet come to my knowledge, and 
it is peremptorily said in the parish, that he has left money to 
build a steeple to the church ; for he was heard to say some 
time ago, that if he lived two years longer, Coverley Church 
should have a steeple to^ it. The chaplain tells everybody that 
he made a very good end, and never speaks of him without 
tears. He was buried according to his own directions, among 
the family of the Coverleys, on the left hand of his father Sir 
Arthur. The coffin was carried by six of his tenants, and the 
pall held up by six of the quorum : the whole parish followed 
the corpse with heavy hearts, and in their mourning suits, the 
men in frieze, and the women in riding-hoods. Captain Sentry, 
my master's nephew, has taken possession of the Hall House, 
and the whole estate. When my old master saw him a little 
before his death, he shook him by the hand, and wished him 
joy of the estate which was falling to him, desiring him only 
to make good use of it, and to pay the several legacies, and the 
gifts of charity which he told him he had left as quit-rents^ 
upon the estate. The captain truly seems a courteous man, 
though he says but little. He makes much of those whom my 
master loved, and shows great kindness to the old house-dog, 

4. In England a house depending on a manor. The land on which 
it stands belongs to the lord of the manor. 

5. Explain. 



SIR ROGER BE COVERLEY 207 

that jou know my poor master was so fond of. It would have 
gone to jour heart to have heard the moans the dumb creature 
made on the day of my^ master's death. He has ne'er joyed 
himself since ; no more has any of us. 'Twas the melancholiest 
day for the poor people that ever happened in Worcestershire. 
This being all from, honored sir, 

Your most sorrowful servant, 

Edward ' Biscuit. 
P. S. — My master desired, some weeks before he died, that a 
book which comes up to you by the carrier should be given to 
Sir Andrew Freeport, in his name. 

This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner 
of writing it, gave us such an idea of our good old 
friend, that upon the reading of it there was not a dry 
eye in the Club. Sir Andrew opening the book, found 
it to be a collection of Acts of Parliament. There was 
in particular the Act of Uniformity,^ with some pas- 
sages in it marked by Sir Roger's own hand. Sir 
Andrew found that they related to two or three points, 
which he had disputed with Sir Roger the last time he 
appeared at the Club. Sir Andrew, who would have 
been merry at such an incident on another occasion, at 
the sight of the old man's handwriting burst into tears, "^ 
and put the book into his pocket. Captain Sentry in- 
forms me, that the knight has left rings and mourning 
for every one in the Club. O. 



6. The Act of Uniformity was passed in 1G62. It required all 
clergymen to declare iheir assent and consent to everything in the 
revised Prayer Book, and to receive ordination from a bishop. 

7. The insertion of this episode is most artistic. It is an irresisti- 
ble stroke of nature. 



OUTLINE STUDY 

NO. 2 
SIR ROGER DE COVILRLEY PAPERS 

(Joseph Addison, 1672-1719) 



-v 



A. Preparatory Work. — Discussion of The Spec- 

tator and of the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, 

B. First Reading.— The Narrative of each Essay ; 

Study of the Text ; Manners and Customs of the 
Queen Anne Time. 

C. Second Reading. — Critical Study of Sir Roger ; 

Miscellaneous Character Studies. 

D. Third Reading. — The Pervading Sentiment ol 

the Essays ; Literary Analysis. 

E. Supplementary Work. — Life and Works of 
Joseph Addison ; Theme Subjects. 



4 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

A. PREPARATORY WORK 

DISCUSSION OF THE SPECTATOR 

AND OF THE SIR ROGER 

DE COVERLEY PAPERS 

I. Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

1. Their character. — Typical eighteenth century essays. 

2. Their source. — From The Spectator, a news sheet 

edited by Addison and Steele. It was issued every 
morning from March, 1711, to December, 1712. 
Each issue contained an essay, and these essays 
were on every conceivable subject, — pohtics alone 
excepted. The essays which contam the history 
of one Sir Roger De Coverley have been separated 
from the other Spectator essays, and called the Sir 
Roger de Coverley Papers. 

3. Their place in literature. — The forerunner of the 

Enghsh novel of domestic life. 

II. The Spectator 

1. Its character. — An incomparable series of papers 
containing observations on Hfe and literature. A 
seeming unity was given to the undertaking, and 
curiosity and interest were aroused by the happy 
invention of the Spectator's Club, to which the 
periodical owed its name. The essays contained in 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 5 

The Spectator are humorous sketches of character 
and social eccentricities, Ox^ good-natured satires on 
ridiculous features in manners, and on corrupt symp- 
toms in public taste. 

2. The '' Spectator/^ 

Note 1. The "Spectator" is a gentleman who, after passing a 
studious youth at the university, has traveled widely, and finally 
settles in London. He goes about with his eyes open, and tells 
us of the theaters, of coffee houses, and of London life in general. 
He has a great many interesting things to say, but is so bashful 
that he cannot open his lips except to a circle of intimate friends. 
These friends compose the Spectator's Club, of which Sir Roger 
is a conspicuous member. (See M2icau\ay''s Essay on Addison.) 

3. Scope of The Spectator, — The publication contained 

the news of the day, and also a series of light and 
agreeable essays upon topics of universal interest. 
a. Proposed subjects of these essays, — Character 

sketches, social eccentricities, etc. \^See II, i, 

above, ^ 

4. Object of The Spectator, — To refine the manners 

of the time ; to elevate the tone, and to perfect 
the taste, of society. 

5. Contributors. — Addison, 274 papers; Steele, 236; 

Pope, 1 (The Messiah)] Hughes, ^9. Eustace 
Budgell also contributed to it. 

Note 2. Addison signed his papers with one of the letters of the 
word " Clio," — the letters of the word being the initial let- 
ters of Chelsea, London, Islington, Office, the places from which 
Addison dispatched his contributions to The Spectator. 

6. Influence of The Spectator, 

a. It was published at a time when two political 
parties — loud, reckless and violent — were agi- 
tating the nation. To minds heated with politi- 



6 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

cal controversy, they supplied cooler and more 
inoffensive reflections. 
b. They also turned to fresh intellectual fields the 
minds of the upper classes, and allayed much 
restlessness. 

7. Success of The Spectator. — Nothing in England had 

ever equaled the success of The Spectator, It sold 
to an extent fabulous for those days. 

8. Value of The Spectator. 

a. It exhibits the characteristics and manners of the 

Queen Anne Time. 
Z>. It is an exponent of the English feeling of 

the age. 

B. FIRST READING 

NARRATIVE OF EACH ESSAY ; STUDY 

OF THE TEXT; MANNERS AND 

CUSTOMS OF THE QUEEN 

ANNE TIME 



-v 



I. Narrative of Each Essay 

Suggestion 1. During the first reading the attention of the pupils 
should be concentrated upon the ''story" contained in each 
essay, an outline of which should be made as soon as the essay 
has been re-^d aloud in class. 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 7 

1. Paper 111. The Coverley Sabbath. 
a. Oudine. 

(1.) Advantages of Sunday. 

(2.) Sir Roger^s relations w\\\\ the Church. 

(3.) Sir Roger in Church. 

(4.) Incident of John Matthews. 

(5.) After the service. 

(6.) The next village. 

(7.) Effect of village feuds. 
Suggestion 2. Outline each Essay after the plan given above. 

II. Title and Title Verse of Each Essay 

Suggestion 3. Discuss the bearing of the title verse upon the subject 
of each essay. 

III. Study of the Text 

1. Obsolete and Archaic Words; as, 

a. Doxy. 

b. Pad. 

c. Clown. 

d. Quick. 

e. Smoke. 

Suggestion 4. Require pupils to make a list of twenty-five such 
words from the text, and to study each carefully. 

2. Unfamiliar allusions. 

Suggestion 5. Identify each allusion, give the context for each, and 
discuss the appropriateness of its use as illustration. 

IV. Manners and Customs of the 

Queen Anne Time 

(An important topic) 

1. Coral and bells for children, 1. 

2. Belief in witches, 117. 



8 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

3. Coffee houses. 

4. Tombs at Westminster, 26. 

5. English sport and sportsmen. 

6. Country manners, 119. 

7. Condition of religion, 112. 

8. London streets, 324. 

9. Amusements. 

10. Education. 

11. Gipsies, 421. 

12. Political parties. 

13. Punishments. 

14. Food ; table manners. 

15. Inns ; mode of travel; industries, etc. 

Suggestion 6. Use each of the above for carefully prepared written 
work . 

Note 3. The value of the Sir Roger de Co'verley Papers to the 
schoolboy who cannot yet appreciate their literary merit, lies, 
chiefly, in the glimpse which they give him of the mode of life 
during the reign of Queen Anne, — a most interesting social and 
historical period. 

The coffee house played a most prominent part in the social 
economy of the time, as we learn from the essays under discus- 
sion. It was from his favorite corner at fFilPs, or Child^s, or 
St. Jameses, that the '^ Spectator " gleaned his bits of news. 

The coffee houses were not a new institution in Anne's 
reign, but it was then that they reached the zenith of their popu- 
larity. They were the center of news, the lounge of the idler, 
the rendezvous for appointments, the mart for business men. 
They were alike the haunt of the wit and the man of fashion, — a 
neutral meeting-ground for all men, although they naturally 
assorted themselves, like to like by degrees. The only rules 
governing assemblages at these coffee houses were as follows : 
If a man swore, he was fined; discussion on religious subjects 
was prohibited ; no card playing was allowed ; and no wager 
could be made exceeding five shillings. (Ashton's Social Life 
in the Reign of ^lueen Anne.) 

The popularity of the coffee house sprang not from the cof- 
fee, but from the new pleasure which men found in their chat 
over the coffee cup. And from this light, gossipy chat, the essay 
was born. (Green's History of the English People.) 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 9 

C. SECOND READING 

CRITICAL STUDY OF SIR 

ROGER; MISCELLANEOUS 

CHARACTER STUDIES 

I. Sir Roger de Coverley 

Note 4. Sir Roger was sketched by Steele and developed by 
Addison. 

1. Episodes in Sir Roger's History. 

a. His gentle reproof of the gipsy. 

b. His doubts as to the existence of witchcraft, and 

his protection of reputed witches. 

c. His account of the family pictures. 

d. His choice of a chaplain. 

e. His falling asleep in church, and his reproof of 

John WiUiams, as soon as he recovered from 

his nap, for talking in sermon time. 
/. Goes with the *' Spectator" on the water to 

Spring Gardens. 
g. Walks among the tombs in Westminster Abbey. 
h. Is frightened by the Mohocks. 
/". Goes to the theater. 

j. - His hopeless, secret passion for the widow. 
i. The havoc he makes among the game in his 

neighborhood. 



10 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

/. His speech from the bench to show the '' Spec- 
tator " what is thought of him in the country. 

m. His unwilHngness to be put up as a sign post, 
and his having his own Hkeness turned into a 
Saracen's head. 
Suggestion 7 . Give all the details belonging to each episode. 

2. Characteristics of Sir Roger. — Modest, generous, 

hospitable, eccentric, full of whims, courteous to 
his neighbors, affectionate to his household, amiable 
to his domestics, " full of inimitable graces of char- 
acter, unpretending virtues, and amicable weak- 
nesses.'^ 

Suggestion 8. Cite anecdotes illustrative of each characteristic. 
Prepare a paper on the subject : Sir Roger de Coverley — a 
Character Sketch. 

Note 5. Sir Roger is a Tory, — an adherent to the landed interest. 
He is the very beau ideal of an amiable country gentleman of 
Queen Anne's time. 

3. Notable criticisms of Sir Roger. 

a. Sir Roger is not to be described by any pen but 
that ot Addison. He exhibits, joined to a per- 
fect simphcity, the qualities of a just, honest, 
useful man, and delightful companion. Addi- 
son dwelt with tenderness on every detail regard- 
ing him, and finally described Sir Roger's death 
to prevent any less reverential hand from trifling 
with his hero. (Tuckerman's History of Prose 
Fiction, ) 

h. What would Sir Roger de Coverley be without 
his follies and his charming little brain cracks ? 
If the good knight did not call out to the people 
sleeping in church and say Amen with such 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 11 

delightful pomposity ; .... if he were wiser 
than he is, ... . of what worth were he to 
us ? We love him for his vanities as much as 
for his virtues. (Thackeray.) 
c, ^^ If we were asked to name the two gentlemen 
in fiction known to the Anglo Saxon reading 
world, who would they be but Sir Roger de 
Coverley and Colonel Newcome^ — both types of 
high civilization, — an imperishable embodiment 
of the gentleman as he was known and de- 
manded by his own associates in his own time." 

II. Other Members of the Club 

x. Will Honeycomb. — ^^ A fine gentleman and great 
authority on the fashions of the day." 

2. Sir Andrew Freeport. — A London merchant, indus- 
trious, generous, and of sound good sense. 

Note 6. Sir Roger was referred to when matters connected with 
rural affairs were in question ; Will Honeycomb gave law on 
all things connected with the gay world ; Captain Sentry stood 
up for the army ; and Sir Andrew Freeport represented the com- 
mercial interest. (Ch^mhev's English Literature.) 

III. Will Wimble 

1. Characteristics. — Simple, good-natured, officious, 
^^ extremely well versed in all the little handicraft 
of an idle man." 

Note 7. The delightful simplicity and good-natured officiousness of 
Will Wimble, are set off by the graceful affectations and courtly 
pretensions of Will Honeycomb. (Hazlitt.) 

Suggestion 9. Discuss the accuracy of the statement contained in 
Note 7. 



3 2 Outline Study II. Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

D. THIRD READING 

THE PERVADING SENTIMENT 
OF THE ESSAYS; LITER- 
ARY ANALYSIS 

V. 

1. General Subject Treated of in Each Essay 

-1. Lack of reverence for old age, 6. 

2. Clergymen's sermons, 106. 

3. Rewards to servants, 107. 
-Jr. Younger sons, 108. 

5. Dress, 109. 

6. Superstitions, 110. 

7. The Sabbath, 111. 

8. Men in love, 113. 

9. Keeping up appearances, 114. 

10. Value of exercise, 115. 

11. Hunting, 116. 

12. Witchcraft, 117. 

13. Confidantes, coquetr\-, 118. 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 13 

14. Manners, 119. 

15. Lessons taught by animals, 120. 

16. The Royal Society, 121. 

17. Value of education^ 123. 

18. Law courts, 122. 

19. Party spirit, 125, 126. 

20. Gipsies, 130. 

21. Town life vs, country life, 131. 

22. On meeting strangers, 132. 

23. Trade, 174. 

24. Christmas, 269. 

25. Westminster Abbey, 329. 

26. Beards, 331. 

27. Condition of London streets, 335, 

28. Women, 359. 

II. The '^ Spectator's'' Reflections 

1. For and against hunting. 

2. Definition of manners. 

3. Relation of servant and master. 

4. On manners. 
_5. On ghosts. 

6. On the value of the Sabbath. 

7. Result of dread of want. 



14 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

8. Effect of exercise on the mind. 

9. Double scheme of duties. 

10. Preservation of health. 

11. Witches. 

12. First and most obvious reflections which arise when 

a man moves from the city to the country. 

13. Country manners compared with city manners. 

14. Reason vs. instinct. 

15. Evidences of a Creator in animal life. 

16. Lessons learned from the mole. 

Suggestion 10. Use each of the above for the subject of an article 
embodying the " Spectator's " line of reasoning on the subject. 

III. The '' Spectator's" Epigrams 

1. It is a stupid .... reflection (2). 

2. I know .... common (6). 

3. The general .... masters (107). 

4. Economy .... conversation (114). 

5. Bodily labor .... pleasure (115). 

6. Everyman .... posted (116). 

7. Diligence .... sword (2). 

8. When arguments .... neither (117). 

9. To polish .... inexcusable (6). 

10. To pay for ... . dishonor (114). 

Suggestion 11. Require pupils to increase this list of epigrams, and 
to reproduce Addison's discussion of each. 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 15 

IV. Literary Excellences of the Sir Roger de 
Coverley Papers 

1. Smoothness and elegance of diction. 

2. Displays a high moral tone, literary knowledge, vigo- 

rous thought. 

3. Characterized by gossipy eloquence, ingenious talk, 

bright and playful humor. 

4. ** Inexpressible charm in the matter; inexhaustible 

variety in the form." 

Suggestion 12. Require pupils to select and re-read aloud in class 
passages illustrative of the above. 

E. SUPPLEMENTARY WORK 

LIFE AND WORKS OF 

JOSEPH ADDISON; 

THEME SUBJECTS 



>t 



I. Joseph Addison 

1. Significant dates in his career.— 1672, 1693, 1697, 
1698, 1699-1703, 1706-1708, 1709, 1710, 1714, 
1716, 1717, 1718, 1719. 

Suggestion 13. Let pupils verify each date. 



16 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

2. Different phases of his career. 

3. Literary versatility. 

Suggestion 14. As Macaulay's Essay on Addison is also among the 
College Requirements in English, it would be well to read that 
essay immediately after the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers have 
been read. • 

11. Theme Subjects 

1. Coffee Houses : Their Social and Political Im- 

portance. 

2. Famous Essayists. 

3. Daily Life in the Age of Queen Anne. 

4. The Development of the Newspaper. 

5. A Description of the ** Spectator's" visit to Sir 

Roger. 

6. Westminster Abbey. 

7. A Day's Fishing v^^ith Will Wimble. 

8. Bits of Humor in Addison's Portrait of Sir Roger. 

9. Dress in the Eighteenth Century. 

10. The Death of Sir Roger. 

Suggestion 15. Dwell particularly on the artistic manner in which 
Sir Roger's death is announced to the reader. 

11. Gipsies. 

12. Historical Events of Addison's Era. 

13. The Spectator Club. 

14. Richard Steele : His Share in The Spectator, 

15. Topography of London as learned from the Sir 
Roger de Coverley Papers. 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 17 



EXAMINATION QUESTIONS 

1. What is the character of the Sir Roger de 
CovERi.EY Papers? Upon what characteristics does 
their claim to immortality rest ? 

2. Of what literary work do the Sir Roger de 
Coverley Papers form a part? Describe in detail 
the scope and purpose of this production, and state the 
circumstances under which it appeared. 

3. To what department of literature does the Spec- 
tator belong? How does it differ from other specimens 
of this class which you may have read ? 

4. Outline Addison's life and literary career. To 
which period of his literary career does the Spectator 
belong ? 

5. Name the chief personages in the series of sketches 
known as the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 
Which is the central figure? What class of society is 
represented by each of these characters? 

6. Give a brief description and characterization of 
Sir Roger. Of what class of English society is he a 
type ? 

7. A critic has written : ''Sir Roger de Coverley is 
distinguished for his modesty, generosity, hospitality 
and eccentric whims . . . most courteous to his neigh- 
bors, most affectionate to his family, most amiable to 



18 Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papers 

his domestics." Cite anecdotes illustrative of each of 
these points. 

8. Write a brief sketch o\ Sir Roger's life, deriving 
your material from the Spectator Papers which you 
have read. 

9. Enumerate the amiable traits of character attrib- 
uted to Sir Roger in the paper w^hich describes the 
Spectator's visit to Coverley Hall. 

10. Describe the Spectator's visit to Sir Roger; 
describe Sir Roger's visit to the theatre ; give a detailed 
account of Sir Roger's visit to Westminster Abbey. 

11. Describe the coffee house of Addison's day. 
What connection has the coffee house with the Sir 
Roger de Coverley Papers ? 

12. Rewrite in your own words Paper 11 1 — '^ The 
Coverley Sabbath." 

13. Give an abstract of the Paper entitled " Sir Roger 
de Coverley at Church." 

14. Give reasons for the statement that the portion 
of the Spectator which contains the Sir Roger de 
Coverley Papers is the forerunner of the English 
novel. 

15. Discuss the subject, "The Common Life and 
Manners of the Queen Anne Time" as depicted in the 
Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 

16. Describe the manner in which Sir Roger's death 
is announced to the reader. 

17. Make a list of twenty-five words, now obsolete, 
used in the Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. 

X107 



Outline Study II, Sir Roger de Coverley Papeps 19 

i8. Under the title, "The Coverley Ducks," what 
topic does Addison discuss, and what suggestion does 
he make regarding the Royal Society ? 

19. For what purpose is the story of Eudoxus and 
Leontine inserted in Paper 123? 

20. What very interesting subject is discussed in 
Paper 120, "The Coverley Poultry"? What conclu- 
sion is reached? Qiiote the title verse. 

21. What subject is discussed in Paper 119? In 
what connection is this subject introduced ? 

22. Of what value to the schoolboy are the Sir 
Roger de Coverley Papers ? 

23. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers display 
a high moral tone, literary knowledge and vigorous 
thought, and are characterized by gossipy eloquence, 
ingenious talk and bright and playful humor. Select 
passages illustrative of each of the above. 

24. Give the title of each Spectator Paper which you 
have read. What topics of the day are discussed in 
each ? 

25. Write 500 words on the theme, '' Bits of Humor 
in Addison's Portrait of Sir Roger." 













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